The Fire Within Us
by Crystalline Sunset
Summary: Even a hero's son can be afraid. Even StarClan can be cruel. Even ThunderClan can be hated. Even a traitor can be the bravest warrior. Even fire can create life.
1. Allegiances

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Crystalline Sunset**

Even a hero's son can be afraid. Even StarClan can be cruel. Even ThunderClan can be hated. Even a traitor can be the bravest warrior. Even fire can create life.

_Eaglepaw is the son of heroes. His sister is a brilliant young she-cat, favored by the warriors. His brother is the best scheming, trouble-making tom there is. Trapped in his own world of self-doubt and desire to prove that he too is great, problems arising in the forest have difficulty breaking into his thoughts. But now the Moonpool is failing - the connection to StarClan of the medicine cats and leaders is dried up and lost, and everyone is panicking...but no one is doing anything. Dragged unwillingly into an elicit quest to trace the source of the Moonpool's stream, along with a small group of companions, Eaglepaw must take up the mantle of his parents and become what he is not._

_A hero._

* * *

**RIVERCLAN**

**Leader**

**Mistystar**—gray she-cat with blue eyes, has six lives

**Deputy**

**Lionpelt**—golden tabby tom, blue eyes

Apprentice, Galepaw

**Medicine Cat**

**Willowleaf**—pale gray she-cat

**Warriors**

**Reedwhisker**—long-legged black tom, green eyes

**Tumblepelt**—light brown tabby tom

**Nightshadow**—black tom with blue eyes

**Flamingfur**—ginger tabby tom

Apprentice, Sunpaw

**Scarletfire**—dark ginger she-cat

**Streamflower**—black and white tabby she-cat blue eyes

Apprentice, Moonpaw

**Barkpelt**—golden brown tom

Apprentice, Birdpaw

**Shadowflicker**—pale gray tom

Apprentice, Eaglepaw

**Morninglight**—gray and white tabby she-cat

**Tigerflame**—golden-brown she-cat streaked with gold, green eyes

**Gorsethorn**—light brown tabby tom

**Ashenrain**—silver tabby she-cat

Apprentice, Brightpaw

**Dawninglight**—black and gray tabby she-cat, amber eyes

**Smokepelt**—black and gray tabby tom, green eyes

Apprentice, Graypaw

**Darkstorm—**dark gray tabby tom

**Icepath—**white she-cat

**Rowanfur—**ginger tabby she-cat with green eyes

**Apprentices**

**Galepaw**—white and gray she-cat

**Graypaw**—dark gray tom

**Brightpaw**—silver and black she-cat

**Birdpaw**—brown she-cat

**Sunpaw—**golden tom with green eyes

**Moonpaw**—silver she-cat with green eyes

**Eaglepaw**—brown tabby tom

**Queens**

**Robinflight—**ginger she-cat with amber eyes

* * *

**THUNDERCLAN**

**Leader**

**Firestar**—ginger tabby tom with green eyes

**Deputy**

**Brambleclaw**—dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Apprentice, Flashpaw

**Medicine Cat**

**Leafpool**—light brown and white tabby she-cat

Apprentice, **Featherwing**—silver-gray she-cat

**Warriors**

**Sandstorm**—light ginger she-cat

**Squirrelflight**—dark ginger she-cat with green eyes

**Ashfur**—gray tom with darker flecks

**Shimmerfur**—pale ginger and white tabby she-cat

**Skyheart**—black she-cat

Apprentice, Crystalpaw

**Nightfur—**black tom with blue eyes

**Cindersnow**—dark gray she-cat

**Apprentices**

**Flashpaw**—light ginger tom

**Crystalpaw—**white she-cat with green eyes

**Queens**

**Whitewing**—white she-cat

* * *

**WINDCLAN**

**Leader**

**Onestar—**brown tabby tom

**Deputy**

**Emberheart—**golden she-cat

**Medicine Cat**

**Kestrelclaw**—mottled brown tom with tabby markings

**Warriors**

**Crowfeather**—gray-black tom with blue eyes

**Whitetail**—white she-cat

**Rabbitfoot**—brown and white tabby she-cat

**Goldenlight**—golden-ginger tabby she-cat

Apprentice, Darkpaw

**Breezepelt**—silver tabby she-cat

**Sparkfur**—light ginger tom

**Snakefang**—long-haired brown tabby tom

**Apprentices**

**Darkpaw**—black tom with amber eyes

**Queens**

**Dawnspirit**—light gray she-cat with green eyes

* * *

**SHADOWCLAN**

**Leader**

**Blackstar**—white tom with black paws

**Deputy**

**Russetfur**—dark ginger-red she-cat

**Medicine Cat**

**Amberleaf**—dappled golden she-cat with blue eyes

Apprentice, Rosepaw

**Warriors**

**Tawnypelt—**tortoiseshell and ginger she-cat

**Rowanclaw**—dark ginger tom

Apprentice, Stormpaw

**Blazepelt**—mottled ginger and white tom

**Ivytail**—tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

**Pinefur**—dark brown tabby tom with black stripes

**Lightningfire—**black and silver tabby tom with amber eyes

Apprentice, Shadepaw

**Swiftwind**—gray tabby tom

**Apprentices**

**Rosepaw—**tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

**Stormpaw**—brown and black tabby tom

**Shadepaw**—black she-cat

**Queens**

**Rainmist**—silver she-cat with white patches

**Applecloud**—light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Elders**

**Littlecloud—**small tabby tom, formerly the medicine cat

* * *

**CATS OUTSIDE CLANS**

**Flickerpaw**—brown and gold tom who lives in a cavern beyond the ThunderClan borders

**Helena**—black and white she-cat, a wandering rogue (_Also known as_: Crescent, Fog, River-dancer, Cloud Over Mountains, Snowdrop, Heart of Lightning, Diamond, and more)


	2. Prologue: Dreams of the Eagle

**A/N: This story takes place around two years after _The New Prophecy _ended, disregarding anything that has happened or will happen in _The Power of Three_. I originally wrote this story as the third part of a trilogy on another small website, so there's a lot of history I need to put in here for readers to understand it. Please review and let me know what you think:)**

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US  
**

**Prologue: Dreams of the Eagle**

_All of their generations had been born at sunset._

_Silverpool came first. She was coated in what seemed to be moonlight woven into threads and draped about her, and that was what earned her the endearment "moon" by her mate, whom she called in return "sun". Tigerflame their daughter was born at late sunset, on the brink of night, where only a few waning scarlet swaths of light still decked the horizon. Tigerflame looked like her father—rich brown fur, streaked with gold, and with her mother's bright eyes._

_And now it was another sunset, in another time, another generation, and it was happening again._

* * *

"I want to see her," growled Gorsethorn, spinning around, ruffling his fur and shooting Dawninglight a glare.

"Too bad. Willowleaf said no one's going in there until she says so." The black and silver tabby shrugged, casting him an amused glance. "Anyway, you're better off here."

"Why's that?"

"Anyone within reach of a queen's claws when she's kitting is in mortal danger. How do you think Barkpelt got those scratches on himself when_I _was in Tigerflame's place?"

"_You_ did that?"

"Yeah." Dawninglight grinned once more, brushing her paw across her sleek chest fur, before bustling over to visit her own two daughters, who were apprentices now. Gorsethorn sat down in anxious frustration, hooking a broken reed around his claws and snapping it into pieces. Crickets were chirping all around him, their music swelling as the sun sank deeper towards that great abyss of night below the horizon. The meadows and groves of RiverClan's territory were all flushed with the rosy half-light, and the river was a ribbon of liquid, flashing gold. A few breezes stirred the bracken and the deciduous, full-leaved sycamores that guarded their camp where two tributaries met to become one river.

He could hear the muffled voices of Willowleaf, their medicine cat, and Tigerflame, his mate. Willowleaf's calm, instructing words were half-drowned by the gasps of Tigerflame. It was torment, waiting here, while his kits were born just a few fox-lengths away!

Gorsethorn tried to make himself calmer, less jumpy, and searched his memories for distracting things. Focusing on the setting sun, he remembered the mountains, and how he and Tigerflame had fallen for each other…

"What's happening in there?" A troubled voice broke into his thoughts, and Gorsethorn looked up to see Reedwhisker, Dawninglight's mother, standing in front of him. "Is she all right?"

"I don't know. Willowleaf won't let anybody in there, not even me," he answered through gritted teeth, jumping to his paws and casting the nursery yet another half-angry, half-worried look.

"At least your kits weren't born at a Gathering," Reedwhisker mewed back, smiling slightly and shaking her head. "That's where Tigerflame was born. All the medicine cats were there to help Silverpool. I'll never forget it. Even Barkface was there, for StarClan's sake, and he was the oldest cat in the forest at the time!"

Gorsethorn nodded, then opened his mouth to reply, but another voice cut him off.

"Two toms and a she-cat, in case you were wondering!"

The light brown tabby spun around so quickly that he tripped over his own paws. Snarling, he scrambled up and pelted over to the nursery, where Willowleaf's light gray face looked amusedly out at him. "She's fine," she meowed, stepping aside for him to pass. "And so are the kits."

"Thanks," he replied breathlessly, ducking under the tangled thorns into the low-roofed space below the bramble bushes that was the RiverClan nursery. Claw-thin strands of sunlight penetrated the twisted canopy of bush and tree to gently illuminate Tigerflame and three little shapes beside her. Gorsethorn dropped down beside them, his mouth open a bit, eyes wide. Tigerflame blinked lazily over at him, looking utterly spent, but incandescent with happiness.

One of them had a pelt of soft silver, identical to that of Tigerflame's mother, Silverpool, who had died last greenleaf before the kits had even been conceived. Beside it was a larger kit with golden fur of a hue that was similar to the fading sunlight, and the third was golden brown tabby, close to what Gorsethorn looked like.

"Aren't they amazing?" Tigerflame asked quietly, her head resting against the thick moss of her nest and her eyes closed.

"Yes, they are." Reedwhisker had entered also, and Dawninglight was with him. Reedwhisker immediately came over and bent down to sniff each one. "Which ones are which?" He meowed to Willowleaf, who drew closer to point at each kit in turn with her tail.

"The yellow and brown ones are males, and the silver is female."

"They're gorgeous," Dawninglight put in, her tone high and excited. She had always been a flouncy she-cat, a bit of a gossiper, with a love for beauty; but she was an excellent tracker, one of RiverClan's finest.

"Course they are. These are Tigerflame's kits we're talking about." Reedwhisker grinned.

"Why don't we leave these two alone now?" Willowleaf meowed loudly. "I'm sure Gorsethorn and Tigerflame have a lot to discuss now."

"Fine," replied the black tom, waving his tail at the medicine cat. "Belligerent as Mothwing, StarClan rest her, that's what I always say. It's impossible for any cat who knew her to not attain some of her personality—even Mistystar says it."

Willowleaf smirked and gave him a cuff on the shoulder. "I'm serious."

"We know," Dawninglight mewed, leading her father out of the nursery. "See you, Gorsethorn. Tigerflame—nice work." Willowleaf glanced at Tigerflame once more before disappearing back into the camp, undoubtedly to tell Mistystar the news.

"They really _are _gorgeous, Tigerflame," Gorsethorn murmured, touching his nose to hers. She smiled back up at him, her green eyes a slit of emerald beneath her half-closed lids.

"What do you think we should call them, Gorsethorn?"

"Maybe you should rest first. Don't stress yourself out too much."

"_You're_telling _me_ this?" She asked playfully. Shifting her weight, she adjusted herself so she could look down on her kits better. "No, I want to think of names now. Better sooner than later. Anyway, they're all healthy and strong, that's what Willowleaf told me. And I can prove to Dawninglight that I can name my kits faster than she named Birdpaw and Brightpaw. It took her exactly one day to name them."

"Okay," Gorsethorn meowed back, "well, it technically is a she-cat's talent to come up with names…"

"Maybe it is, but you're helping me."

"How about Brownkit, Goldkit, and Silverkit?" He quipped.

"You are terrible."

"Don't see you coming up with anything."

She sighed, letting her tail-tip rest on each of the three little bodies. Gorsethorn could see their flanks moving up and down ever-so-slightly as they breathed in a gentle, sleepy rhythm. She was silent for a few long moments, immersed in thought, and Gorsethorn looked on, not really forming any ideas in his head.

"I've an idea," she meowed at last, looking up. She had a strange expression on her face—something alarmingly close to sadness.

"Are you—?"

"I'm okay. I was just thinking…you remember Silverpool?"

"That's a rhetorical question, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Well…." She inhaled deeply and slowly. "I want names to remember her by. The day we returned from the mountains…the day I learned she was dead…every second of it is burned into my memory forever. I think about it, about her, every day. She had so much tragedy in her life."

Gorsethorn watched her steadily, his head full of questions. "But she had Reedwhisker, and you and your siblings."

"Half-siblings," she reminded him quietly.

"Is this about Hawkwing?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to name one of them Hawkkit or something?"

"No. I was thinking of the nicknames that Silverpool and Hawkwing had for each other, back before Hawkwing died and Reedwhisker became Silverpool's new mate. _Sun_and _Moon_ are what they called each other."

"I know that."

Tigerflame's tail rested on the she-cat. "Well, then. This one is Moonkit, and the tom"—she touched the golden one—"is Sunkit."

Gorsethorn exhaled lightly. "Great."

His mate sighed again, and she touched the brown one. "And you remember how Hawkwing died?"

Gorsethorn met her gaze hesitantly. "Yes. He was killed by eagles."

"This is Eaglekit," she continued, the slightest tremble in her voice.

"Are you going to tell them why they're named that?"

"No," she replied. "At least…not until they're old enough to understand. Silverpool never wanted the secret of her and Hawkwing to leak out. Then there would be chaos, not only in RiverClan, but in WindClan as well. There have been half-Clan cats before, and nothing good ever came out of that."

"Well, you're half-Clan, and look what's happened because of you. You're a hero, Tigerflame. You were the one who saved all four Clans from the wild epidemic of last greenleaf—_you_found the cure in the mountains. You know what they're calling that time now? _The Greenleaf of the Black Sun_."

"Good name. And don't act so modest, Gorsethorn. You were with me in the mountains too."

"My point is, a cat shouldn't ever be judged by their lineage." Gorsethorn moved closer to her, careful to avoid the kits. "That used to be a big problem in the past, around the time when the Clans first came to the lake. It's died down now, and an issue that stupid and prejudiced should never arise again."

"Yes. You're right." Tigerflame gave him a soft smile, then settled down again into her moss. "Forbidden romance used to be a big issue as well. Remember that big scandal with the ThunderClan medicine cat a long time ago that everybody used to tell us stories about? That happened during Silverpool's time, when she was an apprentice. And she became part of a forbidden romance herself. Her and Hawkwing. RiverClan and WindClan. At least no other cats found out about it…well, those who would have hurt them because of it."

Gorsethorn stood up, then moved around to sit behind her, curling his tail around hers and laying his head beside hers. "Let's not think about what happened long ago," he whispered to her, shutting his eyes. "Let's sleep. Eaglekit, Moonkit, and Sunkit need their rest as much as you do."

She hummed a little in agreement, snuggling closer to him. "Good night," she mewed. "I love you."

"I love you too." Gorsethorn relaxed, listening to her breathing.

Above them, where the stars shone in the night sky, the spirits of StarClan were stirring. A she-cat with fur like moonlight was looking down to the riverside camp, heart filled with blissful, incredulous warmth. Silverpool felt loved again.

* * *

_**Six Moons Later**_

Silverpool had walked the forests of StarClan for moons now, and the sky-bound lands were as familiar as the RiverClan territories she had walked in her lifetime. She had always watched Tigerflame, her daughter with Hawkwing of WindClan, and the kits of her younger litter with Reedwhisker—Dawninglight, Ashenrain, and Smokepelt.

She'd had two mates in her life, but only one was with her now. Hawkwing, her first love, who had died to save her from eagles, spent almost every moment with her now in StarClan. Reedwhisker, who had been smitten with her ever since she was an apprentice, had become her mate after Hawkwing's untimely death.

And when her kits were all grown, and the time of disease had come to the Clans, she had been taken by it, and came to StarClan to live in the forests that were dark with eternal night, but starlit and safe all at once.

The light gray she-cat ghosted amongst the trees, keeping out of sight of the other cats there, making her way to the very edge of StarClan's territory, where the translucent grasses and trees faded away into untamed, open sky. There was a grove of poplars there surrounding a small clearing, and in the center of this clearing was a perfectly circular pool. The Seeing-water of StarClan, where prophesies were born—the pool that could glimpse the future, the present, and the past.

Silverpool cautiously padded up to stand at its edge. She had been there many times before, but the place awed and scared her every time. It shimmered with every color imaginable; it held blue-silver water, as any normal stream or pond would have, but it rippled without a touch from paw or pebble. And from the ripples sprang flickers of diluted light, lingering in the air for an instant before disappearing into the pool. There were delicate hues of rose and palest red, thin orange and sunny gold, flashing green, brightest blue to twilight violet and dusky shades of black and gray and brown. And sometimes they would move, take shape, and form pictures.

His face was there. Again and again it formed for a few split-seconds in the Seeing-water. It was so clear and recognizable—his brown tabby fur, darker than his father Gorsethorn's, and big amber eyes with tinges of green. He wasn't the brightest cat, quite unlike his sister, but he was soft-hearted, unlike his brother, who was quick to argue and irritable. He wasn't feisty or strong in battle, but more solitary, preferring to keep his problems and feelings to himself. Eaglekit was the unique one in the family.

And his destiny was beginning to be foretold.

Then there was Moonkit. She was the youngest and smartest of Tigerflame's kits. Already she had caught the interest of the warriors, and many requests had gone out to Mistystar for mentorship. She was blissfully drinking it all in, for all the attention was for good reason:

Moonkit had achieved catching a bird when she was five moons old, helped to track down Dawninglight's daughter Birdpaw when the apprentice was lost, and had invented a team game of keep-away with moss, using small stones to record the scores. She was the spitting image of Silverpool, her mother's mother, down to her leaf-green eyes.

Sunkit was quite the opposite. He was the oldest kit of his litter, strong-willed and easy to irritate. He challenged other cats regardless of his age and size, and seemed to forget that he was indeed smaller than the warriors. This probably was fed by the fact that he was the only tom of his age, except maybe for Graypaw, the only male apprentice, who was several moons older. Oddly enough, Eaglekit was his best friend and ally, the two of them often pairing up against Moonkit their sister. But she usually won fights anyway.

Silverpool watched them, sometimes flitting down to the earth to stand beside them or simply watching Eaglekit's face sometimes appear in the Seeing-water. And now, as she peered down into the prophetic pond, she saw him again, his small head and shoulders, silhouetted against a whirl of flames.

_Would he be killed in a fire?_

_Was he doomed to die at the paws of a fiery cat?_

_Would he turn to evil?_

_Will he be consumed by the evils of another?_

"I have to do something," she whispered, feeling the word slip from her mouth before she could stop them.

Silverpool arose from the water's edge, and felt an involuntary shudder pass down her back. Quickly and quietly, she curled up to sleep beside the pool, letting her tail-tip rest in the colorful ripples. The water's fire-image still crackled silently, and Eaglekit's shape moved around in it frantically.

She opened her eyes, and saw the little brown shape of heryoungest grandchild blinking sleepily, his eyes wide.

"Dawninglight? What is it?" He struggled to his paws. He was six moons old now, soon to be apprenticed, but here he looked as young and vulnerable as a four-moon-old. He stumbled a bit nearer, and his eyes flew wide, huge and confused. "Wait—you aren't Dawninglight! And you don't have Clan scent, either." He took a step back. "Where am I?"

Silverpool rose, carefully keeping her tail-tip in the water, peering down at the young cat. Indeed, he was very nearly the spitting image of Gorsethorn, but his fur had darkened from kithood to a rich, dusty brown, the color of sand beneath the water.

"Look in the water," she told him, evading the questions.

"Tell me who you are," he insisted, not moving from where he was crouched.

She sighed. "I am Silverpool, your mother's mother, and you are in StarClan."

He visibly started, looking around wildly, taking in the faint trees, the sparkling rivers of stars. "But—but why am I here?"

"Look into the water," Silverpool insisted, "and you will see."

Eaglekit shot another glance around him, watching me mistrustfully. He slunk over to the Seeing-water and I glided over beside him.

"Don't touch it," she told him quickly.

"Why not?"

"The living must never touch the Seeing-water of StarClan," she stated. "It is infused with great and terrible power beyond measure. The mortal would be consumed by it."

He frowned, and carefully stretched his head out over the Seeing-water and looked down into its depths.

The pool, which had been depicting a group of cats standing on a cliff that overlooked a great expanse of restless water, immediately began to ripple and change. It flashed through half-assembled images of rock and tree, river and meadow, sun and snow. Finally the colored flashes slowed, revealing the same flickering picture Silverpool had seen: Eaglekit, surrounded by flames.

He gasped, but the image changed again. Now it showed a bone-dry riverbed, and there was he, gazing upon it. Then it splashed and transformed into a different picture, one of a group of fighting warriors in a shining clearing.

Eaglekit was breathing fast.

The colors reformed, and the shapes of swooping eagles filled the watery sky, and fell upon two terrified cats below, one silver and the other golden-brown. Then the Tribe's waterfall flashed into view, and a half-lit hole filled with white flowers, then the mountains.

And the flashing suddenly paused, frozen on the image of a small white cat, facing a group of tall warriors, her stature proud as she shouted soundlessly at them.

Eaglekit looked over at Silverpool, astonishment on his face. "But…what…?"

"You are seeing the past," the silver she-cat answered solemnly. "Your mother's past, and my own. The rest of it is your future."

"Wait—which parts of it are which? Who are all these other cats?"

"I don't know," she whispered, fixing her green eyes upon his face.

"But you just said that you're Tigerflame's mother, and your past is in there! Tell me what's happening in this puddle."

"I can tell you one thing. I've watched the Seeing-water for over two moons now, and your face has always been in it. You're no ordinary cat, Eaglekit."

He glared at her, curling himself into a ball and hiding his face. "I don't want to see anymore."

"Understand this," Silverpool meowed desperately. "I don't want you to have any tragedy in your life. I have to warn you…you have to avoid it…you have to live your life to the fullest…"

"Go away!"

"Not before I tell you this," she whispered. "There is a prophecy associated with your future, Eaglekit of RiverClan."

He sat up at once. "What? A proph—"

Her loud, chanting voice cut him off.

"_A traitor can be the bravest warrior,_

_Silver will be blue again,_

_And the Moonpool shall be renewed in the glory of white fire and death_."

Then she whisked her tail from the Seeing-water. A great wind suddenly filled the poplar grove, bringing with it a great rumbling, swirling in spirals around the pool, ruffling Silverpool's star-sprinkled pelt wildly. She shut her eyes against the pressure, but it still roared and whistled in her ears.

After a moment it halted, just as instantly as it had begun. She looked up. Eaglekit had vanished.

_His destiny is beginning to be foretold. _


	3. Chapter 1: Clouds

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry if this chapter seems a little...well, pathetic, but I have a hard time writing about kits and stuff. The story gets more exciting in the next chapter.**

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 1: Clouds**

Leaf-fall was coloring the trees red and gold, even though the days were still comfortably warm. The grasshoppers still hummed in the fields, and fish were plentiful in both the river and the lake, though of course we were still too young to catch them. Moonkit had already caught a bird (which was a crowning achievement at her age), and Sunkit a water vole, though Tigerflame severely berated him for going so close to the river. I had to my name a simple mouse, common prey for young kits to catch on their own. Tigerflame was proud still, and that alone was good enough for me. 

I was curled up tightly in the nursery, eyes open wide and heart beating fast. The hauntingly beautiful face of the StarClan she-cat still hung in my memory, wispy and half-formed like old cobwebs, ready to flit away at the slightest breeze. I struggled to hold onto it, the memory of the dream, but only fragments remained—the desperate and sad face of the she-cat, whose name escaped me…a dark clearing…flashes of fire…_Silverpool, that was it…_

And then there was the _realism_ of it all. It was totally different from other dreams of stupid randomness. 

"Eaglekit._Eaglekit_."

I looked up, selecting an expression of mock exasperation for my face, momentarily forgetting the dream. Sunkit's golden head was poking through the nursery entrance. "Come here."

"Why?"

"You'll see." Sunkit pulled away, and I rose reluctantly from the mosses and reeds of my nest to follow. Sunkit kept to the edge of the camp, slinking through the tall grass that bordered the small clearing, until he reached a cluster of ferns and dived in. I mimicked him, staring.

"What do you want?" I hissed. Silverpool's face lingered in my head.

"Look over there," Sunkit mewed quietly, flicking his tail at something opposite us. I peered through the feathery fronds and saw Mistystar leading several warriors into her den—Nightshadow, Ashenrain, and Reedwhisker. The three cats the RiverClan leader always went to for advice, other than Willowleaf.

I inhaled sharply, my full interest now sparked. "Mentors?"

"Maybe. Let's go spy."

"Are you insane? What if we're caught?"

"Eaglekit, have I ever been caught before in my entire six moons?"

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. What's the matter? You sound like Moonkit today."

"Do not," I grumbled, insulted. The dream still lingered in my mind.

"Do too," Sunkit sniffed. "And I'm going, whether you like it or not. And don't you _dare_ tell Tigerflame _anything_."

"You're so paranoid. I've never told Tigerflame what you're always up to." Grinning, I scrambled to my paws and followed Sunkit as he slunk across the camp, pretending to be following a leaf floating on a breeze. He then dove into a gap in the brambles beside Mistystar's den. I shot a nervous look around the camp. Tigerflame was nowhere in sight, nor was Moonkit. 

Mistystar's hushed voice was easy to hear, disturbingly close and clear. "How often have you been using this place?" I muttered into Sunkit's ear, trying to shrink against the thorns. But he wasn't listening to me. Ashenrain, Tigerflame's sister, was talking now.

"Well, I'm sure anyone would be pleased to take Moonkit," her voice meowed, "in fact, I certainly would if I didn't have Brightpaw already. Not that she's terrible or anything, she's quite a wonderful cat." 

"I was thinking of letting Streamflower take one of them," Mistystar put in. "She hasn't had an apprentice since Thymepaw, her last one, died."

"Yes," agreed Nightshadow fervently. "What about Moonkit for her?"

"My thoughts exactly," Mistystar confirmed. 

"What about Eaglekit and Sunkit?" Ashenrain meowed.

"Sunkit will need a tough mentor," Reedwhisker mewed humorously. "He tried to smuggle Galepaw's bedding into his own den when she said he had less sense than half a fish. And remember that incident with Willowleaf's catnip?"

All four cats chuckled, and Sunkit beamed. "Priceless," he muttered. I rolled his eyes at him, and Sunkit mimed clawing my ears off.

"Gorsethorn could take him," suggested Ashenrain.

"No," Mistystar rejected. "He's Sunkit's father. I avoid using parents as mentors."

"Because of favoritism?" Nightshadow asked. 

"And parents tend to go easy on their kits," Reedwhisker meowed.

"You gave Barkpelt his daughter," pointed out Nightshadow. 

"Yeah, well, Barkpelt's tougher than Gorsethorn," purred Ashenrain.

"Exactly. Who else is there? I know that you have an apprentice, Ashenrain, and she's coming along wonderfully," Mistystar continued. "Shadowflicker could use an apprentice. He asked Lionpelt about it a while ago."

"He'd be good for either of them," Reedwhisker agreed.

Sunkit and I exchanged looks. Shadowflicker was an excellent warrior, well known for his good humor and adventurous spirit. 

"Which one should he take?" Questioned Ashenrain.

"I'll ask him for a preference," Mistystar meowed. "And another cat needs to be chosen. So we have Streamflower and Shadowflicker…"

"Well, there's Dawninglight, but she's still…_recovering_ from her kits," Reedwhisker meowed, amusement in his tone. "What about Flamingfur? He taught Tigerflame herself."

I considered this for a moment. Flamingfur was a good warrior too. He liked taking cats out beyond the RiverClan borders into the land beyond, and was one of the best fighters in the Clan.

"Not a bad idea," Mistystar commented.

"None of them want to be a medicine cat, do they?" Asked Reedwhisker. "In case they want to be mentored by Willowleaf."

"No, we already had Tigerflame ask them," Nightshadow told him. 

"Flamingfur it is, then," Mistystar meowed. "I'll alert those three today, and Tigerflame's kits will be more than ready for a ceremony tonight."

Sunkit choked back a gasp. I flashed him a wild look, barely remembering to stay totally silent in case the warriors heard us. The padding of footsteps and the rustle of leaves alerted us to their leaving. We waited for a few moments, breathless, before Sunkit gave the signal to sprint out of the hiding place. Immediately after he let out a fierce yell and tackled me. Caught off guard, I 

retaliated, whacking the golden tom's shoulders with his forepaws as Sunkit tried to pin me down. 

"What are you doing?" I hissed, annoyed and surprised as he looked down on me.

"It's called tactfulness, mouse-brain," Sunkit replied through gritted teeth. "So no one figures out what we were up to!"

"'Mouse-brain'? Best you can come up with?" 

Sunkit looked offended. Taking advantage of his lapse in concentration, I pushed up at his belly with my back paws and threw him off. Sunkit let out a hilariously high-pitched squeal as he fell back and rolled across the grass. Several peals of laughter echoed across the camp clearing, and I looked around to see Moonkit, Galepaw, and Birdpaw padding over to us.

"Interesting technique, Eaglekit," Galepaw meowed genuinely, shaking out her pretty gray and white pelt. "Sunkit…lose the squealing." Brightpaw snickered, and Sunkit sat up, fighting to regain his pride.

"Well, if Eaglekit wasn't so thick he'd've never been able to throw me off." I shoved him. 

"Stop fighting," Moonkit told us, drawing closer. She was smaller than Brightpaw and Galepaw, a _lot_ smaller, but she didn't seem to notice or care.

"Hey, oh intellectual one," Sunkit meowed loudly, prodding her silver flank with his paw. "We have something to tell you. Is Tigerflame around?"

Moonkit's eyes widened skeptically. "She's talking with Lionpelt in the warriors' den. Why? What have you done now?"

"Nothing," Sunkit assured her, lying in his perfect way, leading her to the nursery and ducking inside. He had spent moons refining his techniques, plotting his revenges and pranks, and altogether becoming one of the best tricksters that RiverClan had seen in moons.

_And he deserves the title_, I thought in amusement. 

The nursery was deserted. Moonkit settled down regally in her nest, watching us suspiciously. Sunkit glanced out the entrance to make sure that no one was listening in before turning to her. "We found out who our mentors will be."

"What?" She jumped up, excitement flaring up inside her. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be calm and sensible. "How do you know that?"

He shrugged. "Me and Eaglekit eavesdropped."

"You didn't!" Gasped Moonkit. She turned on me, and I looked back at her innocently. "You followed him into that?"

I shrugged as well. "Yep." She gaped.

"Don't act like you're our mother," Sunkit told her, the faintest edge of a drawl in his voice. "Anyway, they're considering Streamflower, Flamingfur, and Shadowflicker."

"Which one did I get?" Moonkit demanded.

"Dunno," Sunkit answered promptly. I shot him a look of deepest mischief, which the golden tom returned. She didn't notice.

"When's the ceremony?" Moonkit asked breathlessly.

"Tonight," I replied.

"You're not serious!" She all but shrieked.

"Not serious about what?"

Tigerflame poked her head into the den, and I jumped. Sunkit turned around coolly, masking his surprise, and meowed, "I caught another vole today."

"Really?" Tigerflame asked, her green eyes softening as she emerged fully into the den. "Well, I've got some even better news for the three of you. I just had a word with Lionpelt."

"Yeah?" Sunkit meowed breathlessly. He was such an efficient liar, it was startling. 

"And you know what's happening tonight?"

Moonkit shrieked again. _Even she's a better pretender than I am, and she's supposed to be the no-nonsense one_. Miffed, I tried pulling an eager, excited expression onto my face.

"Apprentice ceremony?" Moonkit squealed. Tigerflame smiled and nodded.

"Who are our mentors?" Demanded Sunkit. _A little too over-the-top_…

"You'll find out," Tigerflame replied evasively. "I can tell you that they've picked three very fine warriors. You won't be disappointed."

* * *

It had been a long time since such a spectacular sunset had graced the forest. Greenleaf had been very rainy and wet, the skies almost always clouded. But now the closely-clustered clouds were welcome as they caught and trapped the fiery light in their arms: finest rose, golden orange, and light gray.

Tigerflame, of course, had insisted on grooming and washing each of us. Moonkit had pointed out that cleanliness was essential to…something. I hadn't really been listening. Sunkit hated it all, of course. It_was_ annoying, and made me feel a whole lot younger.

There had been an air of gentle suspense in the camp throughout the afternoon, and now it had risen to a bursting point as Mistystar's call sounded from outside.

"It's time!" Moonkit mewed. "Come on, come on. Sunkit, don't make a fool of yourself…"

But Sunkit had already shot out of the den, with me running behind him. Glancing back, Sunkit promptly rolled over and tangled his fur in the brambles, giving him a very handsome, tousled look.

I couldn't keep the anticipation from my own heart. _Shadowflicker, Flamingfur. Shadowflicker, Flamingfur. _I was _nervous_! And above it all still hung the taunting dream, diminished and faint, but still just as enticing and mysterious. 

_What did it all mean? _

Tigerflame emerged, and sighed in cheerful exasperation when she saw Sunkit. The rest of RiverClan was gathering in the clearing already, and Lionpelt sat beside Mistystar at the front of the group. There was a parting between the warriors, with the leader and the deputy at its head: an aisle to a new life. My heart skipped several beats, feeling like it had sunk inside me, and I became aware of the fact that my legs suddenly felt a lot heavier than usual. Mistystar saw them coming, bunched her legs beneath her, and leaped up onto the dark rock at the camp's highest point, standing a couple heads taller than everyone else.

Moonkit bustled forward first, and I went behind her, blood throbbing wildly in my ears. Everything I had done in the past six moons had all led up to this day—_everything._ Sunkit followed me, casting cool looks about the crowd of watchful warriors. I could see Streamflower's eyes shining as she watched Moonkit.

We reached the front, and Mistystar began the ceremony.

"We have gathered here for an important and heartwarming ceremony that everyone here knows and remembers fondly: the making of a new apprentice. In this case, we have three young cats ready to begin their apprenticeship that will take them on the path to becoming a warrior."

Mistystar looked down at the three, sitting side by side. I was on the left, with Sunkit on the right and Moonkit between us. Three different pelts—silver, brown, and gold—as different as the three of us ourselves.

"They are the kits of Tigerflame and Gorsethorn, whom we all know and respect as part of the mission to the mountains, who ultimately brought back the cure for the dark disease last greenleaf that nearly killed us all. We expect great things from each and every one of them. 

"Moonkit," Mistystar continued, "come forward."

Trembling slightly, the light gray she-cat stepped forward, her bright eyes round and wide. She looked serious and mature, as always.

"From this day until the hour you receive your warrior title, you will be known as Moonpaw."

As if on cue, Streamflower took a step forward as well. Mistystar smiled and meowed, "Streamflower will be your mentor. She is a good warrior, and has a spirited and forgiving heart. Moonpaw will be her first apprentice since Thymepaw's untimely death, and I know they will both do well.

"Sunkit, come forward."

Sunkit stepped up to stand beside Moonpaw and Streamflower. He flashed a winning grin around. 

"From this day, until you become a warrior, you shall be known as Sunpaw. The warrior Flamingfur will be your mentor."

Flamingfur came up too, his fiery orange pelt brilliant in the sunset light. 

"Flamingfur, you were Tigerflame's mentor also. Now you will train her kit, Sunpaw, as well. You are well-known and loved by many, and your energy and skill will help Sunpaw through his life."

It was my turn. Now was the moment. I could feel the eyes all turn to me, watching as I joined my brother and sister as apprentices.

_Shadowflicker's my mentor. _

"Eaglekit, come forward." Dreamlike, I did, wondering wildly how to act—nervous, excited, calm…?

But Mistystar didn't pause. "From this day until StarClan looks upon you as a warrior, you will be known as Eaglepaw. Shadowflicker will be your mentor. Shadowflicker, you had the strength 

to survive the sickness in the Greenleaf of the Black Sun, and your strength and resilience will show through in your training of Eaglepaw."

Mistystar jumped down to touch her nose to each of our foreheads. We all bowed our heads. Then she raised her head to the sky and meowed, "StarClan, look upon these new apprentices, and in your gaze they will grow and live until they join you in death and starlight."

Then the murmuring began, and it swelled into that victorious chant that I'd only heard once before, for Dawninglight's daughters, but now it was for us.

"_Moonpaw! Sunpaw! Eaglepaw!_"

The sound was like the warmth of greenleaf, the victory of a battle, the song of a nightingale, the funniness of my brother's pranks, the sweet stories Tigerflame had told me…_Eaglepaw!_The adrenaline exploded inside of me, rushing through my blood, and I felt all of a sudden ten times taller and older.

Shadowflicker was up beside me, his light gray fur turned to gold. "Congratulations, Eaglepaw."

_Eaglepaw._

I ruffled my fur, laughing in sheer exhilaration. Tigerflame always told me that I looked like my father, Gorsethorn, but his fur was lighter. And Tigerflame's father, Reedwhisker, looked nothing like her. The trait of golden and brown fur came from somewhere…but I didn't know exactly where.

The chanting shattered any other thoughts. _Eaglepaw_—the name tasted so strange in my mind, though I'd dreamed of little else for so long. I looked up to meet the smiling faces of the other cats, the RiverClan warriors. _They all expect so much of me….Tigerflame's my mother, and she's like RiverClan's own personal star. What can I do to make sure they don't think I'm some kind of disappointment?_

I let a grin drift onto my face as the warriors swelled around me, their faces familiar, offering their good wishes. Tigerflame was positively glowing, and she hugged me closely, exclaiming over and over, "Great StarClan!" I nodded and nodded until it seemed like my head would fall off if I exerted my neck much more. I stepped back and stretched for a moment, looking around to see just how many warriors were left. 

Then my blood froze, and my happiness was momentarily shut out by shock. A half-formed shape was flickering in and out of focus at the edge of the thorns, ghostly and unnatural, but strangely not frightening. It raised its smoky head, and I saw two piercing green eyes.

_Silverpool!_

She looked up at the sky, and I greedily followed her gaze to see the last dribbles of sun slip away below the horizon. A slow, rippling echo of thunder reverberated around the skies, and then it began to rain. Not thickly yet: a thin drizzle. Looking back down in confusion, I realized that she wasn't there anymore. Startled, I looked left and right, trying to spot her again, but she had disappeared. 

_Good luck, Eaglepaw. You'll need it_.

There was her voice! I spun around, looking for her amongst the crowd, but she wasn't there. The only other silver-pelted cats in the Clan were Ashenrain, Dawninglight, Moonpaw, and Brightpaw. 

_She's warning me about something._ A little bit of panic stabbed its way through my flesh and embedded itself into my heart. _Spirits are supposed to stay in StarClan, not meddle with the living. That's the medicine cat's job, to communicate with them._

"Eaglepaw?" Tigerflame meowed, her face appearing right in front of mine. I jumped.

"Yeah?"

"You look distracted. You're all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just...thinking about what'll happen tomorrow." I gave her a smile, which she returned before turning away into the dispersing crowd. 

Looking around, I listened further, but the only sounds were the voices of the cats, fleeing inside their dens, the occasional rumble of thunder, and the millions of drops of rain, like a myriad of tiny heartbeats, providing a background melody for my own. 


	4. Chapter 2: The Worst News

**A/N: Wow, thanks for the amazing reviews! I haven't had a lot of luck with them on FanFiction previously, and all of my reviewers really made my day. This chapter is a bit boring, sorry for the delay, but it starts getting more action around Chapter Four.  
**

**Nightsnake**—I kind of imagined Tigerflame just pressing herself close to him and wrapping her tail around his flank or something, I guess. I should've explained it more. Kits have caught prey before in the canon series—Bramblekit had a mouse once, and there were others. Thank you so much for reviewing all the chapters so far!

**Allan Pike**—Well, the predecessors of this story aren't here on FanFiction, mainly because they were…not so great. I wrote them when I was younger and just beginning to write. Thanks anyway, though.

**Dreams of My Heart**—Love your pen name, by the way. Thanks!

**Yalith's Wolf**—Thanks very much!

**Waterfall**—Yep, I'm putting it up here, cause it's my favorite of the three and I think it's my best work in the _Warriors_ genre. It is pretty heavily edited, though, particularly these beginning chapters.

**Little Black Inkblot**—Yes, Moonkit is the 'perfect' one of the bunch, but trust me, she's not going to remain so perfect. I know it was stated once that _sun _and _moon _aren't supposed to be used as names, but the Erins themselves went against this when they named Bluestar's mother Moonflower in _Secrets of the Clans_. So I figured "why not?" As for Sunpaw...I have big plans for him, too. You get to know him more later on. Thank you _so _much for your wonderful praise.

**CinderDreams**—Thanks! blush

**Frostfire or Iceheart**—LOL, thank you. :)

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter Two: The Worst News  
**

"Eaglepaw, come on. We're going out again together," Moonpaw meowed, nudging me with her paw. "Streamflower and Shadowflicker are waiting over there."

I looked up wearily. It was the seventh day of training, and I was exhausted. Shadowflicker had taken me and Sunpaw out for a midnight patrol with Gorsethorn, who was (somewhat irritatingly) eager to watch our performance. Tigerflame was keeping a respectable distance, but I found myself missing the quiet nursery. An advantage of the apprentices' den, however, was that I didn't have to be inside every night at a certain time. The night guards almost always fell asleep on the job, anyway, except for Darkstorm, who was more nocturnal than an owl.

"_Eaglepaw!_" Moonpaw growled impatiently. I rose, padding over to her with a slightly bouncy step.

"Coming, your highness."

She threw me a sarcastic glance as I followed her over to where our two mentors stood together by Mistystar's den.

"It's hard to believe that you two are siblings," commented Streamflower, humor in her bright blue eyes.

"That's what _everyone _says," I replied.

"No wonder," muttered Moonpaw.

"Let's go, shall we?" Shadowflicker meowed pointedly, grinning at me. "Before your bickering drives somebody _else _insane?" Without another word, he began padding across the camp, Streamflower beside him. I scrambled after with Moonpaw, blinking rapidly and trying to shake the sleepiness from my head.

"Remind me to never take a midnight patrol again."

"Maybe if you're nice to me." Moonpaw smirked, ducking beneath the twisted fronds of bracken, reed, and thorn. I hastily followed, bounding forward to catch up with Shadowflicker.

We paused beside the river. Streamflower cast us a glance. "Have you learned to swim?"

"Somewhat," Moonpaw answered. "Tigerflame showed all of us when we were around five moons old. She took us out to the shallows of the lake, where the water gathers into that little basin by the marshes."

"Ah yes. That's where I learned," Shadowflicker meowed. "Actually, more like Barkpelt and I taught ourselves…"

"I remember that," Streamflower mewed affectionately. "I was what, an apprentice at the time?"

"Almost a warrior," he remarked.

"Well, I was old enough to remember how much trouble you two got into when you were kits."

"Those were the good days," sighed Shadowflicker reminiscently.

"You sound like _Sunpaw_," Moonpaw meowed, a flicker of distaste in her voice.

"Well, we didn't take these two out just to talk," Streamflower asserted. "Let's get a move on. Mistystar wants us to patrol the ShadowClan border today, and work along the lake until we reach the marshes."

"Long route," commented Shadowflicker. "Okay. You can lead."

The black and white she-cat swished her fur and waded into the river. She plunged into the swirling water and swam strongly across the water, pulling herself out expertly onto the opposite shore, her mottled pelt diluted with river water. Shadowflicker encouraged us with a 

flick of his tail, and I stepped forward boldly. Poking one forepaw into the water, I shivered and tentatively approached the river. It looked vast and foreboding, tantalizingly daring me to come to its depths, twice as deep as the little pool by the lake where I'd learned to swim, and the river had a fast-flowing current to boot.

I took a deep breath and dropped forward. Instantly the current caught me, almost sweeping me off my paws and away through the meadows, but I fought against it, keeping my nose pointing up and my eyes fixed on Streamflower's shape, trying to think above my annoyingly loud and rapid heartbeats. Propelling myself with all the strength I could muster, I broke through the river, swimming to Streamflower. _Swimming!_ It suddenly felt wonderful to have torrents of cool water whipping around me, tugging through my streaming fur.

And then I felt sand beneath my paws as I neared the other side. I unsheathed my claws and dug them into the unstable soil, shouldering my way through the current and onto the sunlit shore.

"Well done, Eaglepaw!" Called Shadowflicker from the other side. Moonpaw pulled up beside me a moment later, shivering and shaking.

"So cold!" She muttered, shaking out her silver fur. Shadowflicker swept through the water as if it were dense as air, and was padding beside us in a heartbeat.

"Excellent," meowed Streamflower. "Let's go. If either of you pick up any prey-scent, feel free to work on your hunting skills. I know Moonpaw's learned a little so far…Eaglepaw?"

"I've taught him the basic technique for catching mice, and we reviewed birds yesterday," Shadowflicker told her. We came to the edge of the fields, and I lifted my head to scent the breeze. This was unfamiliar territory to me. Shadowflicker had only taken me so far through the other half of RiverClan territory, along the WindClan border, and the marshes and the Island. The scent of lake water was there, and faint traces of ShadowClan carried from their pine woods. The acrid smell of the distant Thunderpath I knew was there came to me, and there was prey-scent too, mice.

"Is the ShadowClan scent normal?" I asked.

"Not really," Streamflower mewed slowly, tilting her nose up slightly to scent along with me. "But it's a windy day."

"I'm sure there are no invaders," assured Shadowflicker, amusement in his tone. "Last time I talked to Blazepelt—he's a ShadowClan tom—he bragged nonstop about the increase in the squirrel population there."

We continued on through the field, passing many little groves of birch and beech. The smoky gray strip of a Thunderpath lay ahead, parting the wooded meadows of our territory and the 

emerald pine forests of ShadowClan. I could see the Twoleg nests clustered around a half-bridge at the Thunderpath's end, right up close to the flashing lake.

"There's the border," Shadowflicker meowed, pointing with his tail at the Thunderpath. "Be sure to memorize ShadowClan's scent and the Thunderpath's. They're similar."

"ShadowClan has that sharper tang, though," observed Moonpaw. "Must be the evergreens."

"And the Thunderpath is fouler," I added, determined to show that I was smart too, "because of the monsters."

"Exactly," Streamflower confirmed.

"These are the fields where Tigerflame's mother was born," Shadowflicker told us. "You know, Silverpool?"

_Silverpool. _My dream suddenly came back to me. It was strange to hear her referred to as a once-living, known cat.

"How did Silverpool die again?" I asked.

"Taken by the sickness of the Greenleaf of the Black Sun," Shadowflicker replied simply. "I thought you knew that."

"I did," I told him quickly. I felt a bit guilty. I wondered if Tigerflame had lied. _Why…?_ I wasn't sure. This whole dreaming-about-Silverpool-who-tells-me-my-future thing was overwhelming. And combined with training? And Moonpaw? I was going to explode before the next full moon.

"Keep going," hissed Moonpaw, prodding my shoulder with her tail. I started moving again beside her, shooting a resentful glare in her direction. The Thunderpath smell was very irritating. If any ShadowClan cats felt like trespassing today, they were in for it.

_And how exactly am I supposed to fight them…?_

"Oh no," snarled Streamflower. She dropped into a crouch. My heart rate accelerated as I swept the fields with my eyes. Then I saw them—three colored shapes, leaping across the Thunderpath.

"Are you serious?" Shadowflicker whispered, beckoning for us to crouch down too. "Why in StarClan's name are they here? These two can't fight, Streamflower."

"They may not have to," the black and white she-cat answered slowly, and, to my great surprise, she rose.

"What are you doing?" Hissed Shadowflicker.

"It's not ShadowClan!" She replied. Her voice contained surprise, relief, and bewilderment. "Look, they're coming to see us."

I stood beside her, watching the approaching cats. One was a light, floaty gray, another a darker shade, and the smallest ginger. The light gray one was leading.

I tasted a new scent on the air, one that I didn't recognize. My shoulder fur bristled instinctively. "Who are they?"

"ThunderClan," Shadowflicker replied. They were close now, and he called out, "You're trespassing!"

"Sorry about that," meowed the light gray one, a she-cat. They stopped before us, their breathing fast and heavy. Streamflower and Shadowflicker dipped their heads, and Moonpaw and I imitated them quickly.

"Greetings," Streamflower mewed. "Why are you here?"

"Bad news," replied the she-cat.

"Moonpaw, Eaglepaw," Shadowflicker cut in quickly, "this is Featherwing, ThunderClan's apprentice medicine cat."

"Ah," Moonpaw muttered.

"We're here peacefully," meowed the darker gray she-cat. "Firestar sent us."

"And why are you here?" Streamflower continued. "Bad news?"

"The worst," Featherwing replied. Her voice was high—not naturally, femininely high, but with that trembling pitch of a cat in fear. "It could not wait until Gathering. I think we have to act now, and I mean _now_, or risk…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "I discovered it accidentally, when I was collecting herbs. Watermint grows well there…at the Moonpool."

A sinister wind buffeted us at that moment.

"The Moonpool?" Streamflower meowed sharply. "What about it?"

"The Moonpool is failing," Featherwing whispered, her eyes dark and unfocused. "And if we do nothing, it will vanish entirely before the moon is full again."

"Failing? What do you mean?" Streamflower took a step closer to Featherwing.

"The water level has shrunk dramatically," Featherwing elaborated. Her blue eyes were pain-filled and terrified. "The little waterfalls that feed it have all but disappeared, and the stream that powers _them_ is almost gone. Dried up."

Shocked silence followed. I simply stared. I'd heard of the Moonpool, the medicine cats' meeting place…but what was happening that could change the forest so radically?

"No," whispered Streamflower. "How?"

"Do you realize what this means?" Her voice rose to a hysterical note. "We would all but lose contact with StarClan! Where would the medicine cats meet at the half moon, and how would a leader receive their lives?"

"This is bad," growled Shadowflicker.

"What do you suggest we do?" Streamflower asked.

"I don't know," the gray she-cat confessed. "I hoped to talk to Willowleaf for ideas. She's the eldest medicine cat now, you know, besides Littlecloud, who's retired. I'm lost. Amberleaf in ShadowClan agreed to check it out now, and I still have to talk to Willowleaf and Kestrelclaw…"

"How's Kestrelclaw doing, do you know?" Asked Shadowflicker. "He's been my friend since apprenticeship."

"Better," Featherwing told him. "He was very unsure, and I can't blame him, after Barkface died. I only recently stopped going to help him complete his training. I think I've done well."

"I'm sure you have," agreed Streamflower.

"There's little time," insisted the ThunderClan she-cat. "Will you take us to Willowleaf?"

"Of course," Shadowflicker told her. Her face relaxed.

"Thank you, and may StarClan light your path."

"Come, you two," Streamflower beckoned, and I followed. That dream was invading my mind again. I had seen an image filled with flickering flames, and cats' shapes had been in it, along with my own shape. Could that be related to the failing of the Moonpool?

I had seen a waterless riverbed, too.

Dark thoughts stole through my mind. I _had _been to StarClan, and Silverpool _had _shown me the future. I couldn't tell anyone else, or they might make me become a medicine cat. I didn't _want_ to be a medicine cat—all _they _got to do was pick flowers and look after grumpy elders. But I didn't want to be let this happen either.

_What would Tigerflame do?_

I felt terribly alone.


	5. Chapter 3: Adventure

* * *

**A/N: Okay...just a couple of quick notes: remember, this story takes place as if Po3 never happened, so characters introduced in that series (ex. Jaypaw, Lionpaw) aren't here. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and sorry for the long wait.  
**

**Nightsnake:** Thanks. :) I'll probably kill all you with my cliffhangers later on...As for the "your highness", I put that in because I'm usually pretty disappointed with how apprentices act in the books. They all seem so generic, and "mouse-brain" doesn't add a lot. Who knows? Maybe RiverClanners have learned a thing or two from the horseplace cats.

**Nameless Nightmare: **Yeah, these first few chapters are information chapters. Action chapters are right up next. Thank you!

**Allan Pike:** Haha, that's right.

**Little Black Inkblot: **Well, this takes place a few years after the end of NP, so I just imagined that she cropped up somewhere. Maybe as one of Ferncloud's endless kits, or maybe one of Whitewing's. I really don't know who her parents are - she's a minor character. Thanks!

**Frostfire or Iceheart: **Thank you very much; I'll try not to take so long next time.

**Waterfall: **Thanks! Although, there's a lot of new stuff in this version, and while the plot is the same, I've added a lot more.

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US  
**

**Chapter 3: Adventure**

The day of the Gathering dragged out longer and longer, and the sun tantalized us, purposely slowing to make us wait longer. I cast it angry looks all throughout the day. Shadowflicker showed me how to fish today, though I still hadn't succeeded in catching one.

Typically, Moonpaw marched into camp today with a beautiful silver one in her mouth.

Typically, Sunpaw told me that she'd found it already dead on the shore.

I still laughed, though.

It seemed that I was always doomed to be stuck in the middle. She was already an excellent fisher, and Sunpaw was commended constantly for his quick abilities at bird-catching. My brother was also the best fighter among the three of us, even though Moonpaw was the more calculating, intelligent strategist. And then there was me. Me, Eaglepaw, son of Tigerflame and Gorsethorn, who'd gone on the journey during the Greenleaf of the Black Sun. Me, the middle kit, who had been born after Sunpaw and before Moonpaw. Me, who would always been following around those I admired. How many of Sunpaw's schemes had I actually helped to engineer? How many times had I ever corrected Moonpaw?

I felt rather ill now. Stupid. I was worrying too much. And the Gathering was tonight. Mistystar had five new apprentices to choose from, and Moonpaw was practically guaranteed to go. That left me, Sunpaw, Birdpaw, and Brightpaw.

I hung my head to pick at the fish I was eating. It was way too big for me. Moonpaw was off sharing hers with Brightpaw, and Sunpaw was nowhere to be seen. I spied Birdpaw on the other side of the camp, heading for the fresh-kill pile.

"Hey, Birdpaw!" I rose, and the brown she-cat turned around. "Want the rest of this fish?"

"Yeah, thanks Eaglepaw," she replied gratefully, flouncing over and settling down opposite me.

"Ready for the Gathering?"

"Dunno," I answered glumly. "Mistystar'll only choose a few of us."

"Well, you have a good chance," Birdpaw pointed out, "Sunpaw's probably been counted out due to that grass thing."

"Grass thing?"

"Didn't you hear? It was really funny, actually—see, Sunpaw climbed up into that giant maple near the ShadowClan border, and he had this disgusting grass stuff up there with him. He carried it up. It looked like bedding not changed for days, which it probably was. And then Galepaw 

came walking up, and she didn't notice him, so when she was positioned just right, he dropped the whole load onto her." Birdpaw laughed. I'd always liked to hear her laugh—it was clear and liquid, like a gentle spring breeze over the lake water.

"What did Galepaw do to annoy him _this _time?"

"They were fishing with their mentors together, I think. Lionpelt challenged the two of them to see who could bring back the most prey. Galepaw won."

"And Sunpaw got his revenge."

"What else?"

I could just imagine Galepaw's face when that happened.

"No wonder she looks so annoyed," I commented, nodding over at the white and gray she-cat. I thought I could pick out a few strands of grass in her smoothly groomed fur.

Birdpaw dipped her head and tore a strip off of what was left of the fish. "So…you were with Shadowflicker and Streamflower when those ThunderClan cats came, right?"

"Yeah."

"What exactly happened?"

"Well…they came into our territory through ShadowClan's, and their apprentice medicine cat was with them. She wanted to talk to Willowleaf, so we went back to the camp with them. They talked, they left."

"What did they talk _about_?"

I looked away from her curious face. "Can't say. Shadowflicker told me not to spread it around until Featherwing can tell everyone at the Gathering."

"_The Moonpool is failing." _Featherwing's voice sounded in my head.

"So it's big news," Birdpaw pressed on. "Something that affects all the Clans, not just ThunderClan."

"Either that or it's a huge problem for ThunderClan," I added, trying to remain as unyielding as possible.

"You're serious? Firestar sends out patrols to all the Clans for when a kit has a bad dream. He's way too trusting."

"Or maybe he just can't control his warriors."

"Least he's not like Blackstar, who wouldn't ask for help if ShadowClan was on the verge of extinction."

"Probably not."

There was a flicker of light gray as Mistystar emerged from her den, and many heads went up simultaneously.

"Ah—look! She'll be announcing who's going now," I told her.

"Mmm. Good," she responded, her mouth full. Swallowing, she meowed, "Finished. Let's get over there."

Shadowflicker and Barkpelt had sat down together with Streamflower and Flamingfur, and their heads were bent together. Willowleaf had emerged, alert as always, with her usual strange, slightly sad aura. Tigerflame said that she'd never really gotten over the death of her mentor, Mothwing. Tigerflame and Gorsethorn sat side by side, tails entwined, with Ashenrain and Dawninglight. Across the camp, Brightpaw and Sunpaw had come out of the apprentices' den. The silver and black she-cat was laughing, and Sunpaw looked hugely pleased with himself. I stole over beside him.

"What are you telling her?" I asked.

"I'll tell you if you tell me what you've been saying to _her_, Eaglepaw," he replied slyly, tilting his head toward Birdpaw.

"Shut up."

"You first."

"I wasn't talking to her like _that_."

"Course not."

I gave him a shove.

Mistystar's voice broke through us, as always. "The Gathering is tonight, cats of RiverClan, and even though I don't need to remind you, I will. We leave at moonrise, and I'll be taking with me Lionpelt, Willowleaf, Ashenrain, Icepath, Tigerflame, Darkstorm, Gorsethorn, Flamingfur, Nightshadow, Moonpaw, Eaglepaw, Sunpaw, Galepaw, and Robinflight."

Voices broke out through the crowd, murmurs of excitement and sighs of disappointment. My heart instantly jumped into my throat.

"I'm going," I found myself saying. "I'm going…to a Gathering." I let out a couple of disbelieving, rapid exhales, laughing a little.

"Awesome!" Sunpaw's voice shouted through the crowd, resulting in many ripples of light laughter. I saw him shoving his way through the warriors to get to me, his face round and eager. "_Gathering_, Eaglepaw, a _Gathering._ Although Galepaw's coming too…ah well, every story needs a villain."

"I heard that, Sun_kit_!" Shouted the gray and white she-cat from outside the apprentices' den.

"Your hearing's in perfect order then, apparently!" He meowed back. "Contradictory to what you still think my name is!"

* * *

The moon rose pale and white, a single bright beacon in the boundless sky. There were no more clouds, but few stars in the half-lit pause between sunset and nightfall. Willowleaf and Lionpelt, medicine cat and deputy, led the way across the wooded meadows and marsh to where the Gathering Island lay in the lake's shallows, while Mistystar hung behind and talked to Flamingfur and Darkstorm. Icepath, Darkstorm's sister, trailed along behind, listening,

I could hear the voices before we came within sight of the Island. Many half-lit bodies carefully made their way across the fallen tree, sagging from the weight of the cats and of the absorbed lake water. We went down the slope and paused as one at the water's edge, waiting as the last few warriors from WindClan passed. I could recognize their light, soft scent of grasses and rabbits.

"Don't do anything stupid," Moonpaw warned Sunpaw as he sauntered up to the sprawling roots, twisting his claw around a trailing black curl of fine bark.

Lionpelt climbed up on top of the tree and began to walk across its trunk, balancing carefully. Willowleaf went after him, then the brown tabby warrior Robinflight. Sunpaw leaped up after her, and Moonpaw hissed, but I grinned. If Sunpaw could get a load of old bedding up into a tree, he could certainly cross a felled one.

Tigerflame clawed her way up next, beckoning to me and Moonpaw with her tail. Cautiously, I approached the roots and dug my claws into the decaying wood, hoisting myself up to the flat bridge of the trunk. Pawstep by pawstep, I followed my mother, keeping my eyes on the path ahead of me and on her waving tail. Moonpaw's quick intakes of breath reached my ears from behind. The lake water sloshed menacingly below us.

And then there was the shadowed, grassy Island before us. Relieved, I slid off of the tapered trunk, avoiding the mess of broken branches where the crown had been, and took my first steps on the Island.

RiverClan was apparently the last Clan to arrive: sitting amongst the branches of the enormous central tree were the other three leaders—flame-pelted Firestar of ThunderClan, small-framed 

Onestar of WindClan, and wily Blackstar of ShadowClan—and below them, their representative cats milled around, some laughing with friends, other glaring at each other. There was affection and animosity, tension and relaxation. It was spellbinding.

"Keep moving, Eaglepaw," Moonpaw meowed behind me.

Eagerly, I obliged, tripping over myself as I hastily ran after Sunpaw. Even though he was new to this as I was, he was as social as a bird and had soon found a ring of apprentices to sit with. I sidled up next to him, dodging a gigantic ShadowClan warrior who looked like he could snap a tree in half.

Sunpaw introduced both of us—"Hey, I'm Sunpaw, this is Eaglepaw"—and in no time was chatting with a couple of she-cats as if he had done nothing else for his whole life. I stood stock-still, stiff and awkward, my gaze flickering nervously around the circle.

"…I mean, seriously, I'm her apprentice, and she didn't mention anything to _me_ about the Moonpool drying up…"

I perked up at once. A ShadowClan apprentice had spoken, a she-cat with a tortoiseshell pelt and a curling scar across her left shoulder, and several others from different Clans were leaning in as well.

"What did you say?" I asked, moving in. The four others, including the tortoiseshell, all looked at me at the same time.

"Eaglepaw, right?" the ShadowClan cat meowed. "You're from RiverClan?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Rosepaw. ShadowClan, medicine cat's apprentice."

"What were you saying about the Moonpool?"

The tortoiseshell she-cat sat up a bit taller. "It's gone dry. Almost completely. All that's left of it is a little muddy puddle in the middle. The entire stream between WindClan and ThunderClan's territories is gone too."

"But how is that possible?" asked Galepaw, who had appeared behind us. "It's leaf-fall. There was a lot of rain in greenleaf. The stream should be running good and strong right now—it _always_ has."

"Not anymore," Rosepaw replied.

"And you found this out from Littlecloud?" Galepaw continued.

"Well, Featherwing from ThunderClan came to tell Littlecloud first, even though he's retired. Amberleaf is my mentor—she's been a full medicine cat for a few moons now. I found out from her."

"Featherwing visited everyone," I put in. "She came to talk to Willowleaf a while ago."

"Anyway," Rosepaw meowed loudly, drawing the focus of the conversation back onto herself, "Littlecloud and Amberleaf never breathed a word to me until tonight, when Littlecloud asked Amberleaf if she'd 'told me about it yet'. Then I learned everything. It's a huge problem, obviously, and the leaders are going to decide what to do about it tonight."

"What _can_ they do?" meowed a black WindClan apprentice.

"RiverClan are the water experts," another pointed out. "They should think of something."

"Oh, so now it's our job to fix this whole thing up." Galepaw growled.

"Onestar wouldn't let any RiverClan cats onto our territory anyway," meowed the WindClan tom. "The medicine cats should look for someplace else to talk to StarClan. They did it before when the Clans first came here."

"This is different," Rosepaw replied. "Last time, the Clans were leaving one place to come here. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Leave it to the warriors," one tom suggested flatly. "They wouldn't listen to us anyway."

"I think they would," Galepaw argued. "Our warriors are fair."

"Yeah, two apprentices got sent to the Mountains on the journey of the Greenleaf of the Black Sun, when everyone was sick," I meowed, recalling Tigerflame's stories.

"Versus the ten warriors that also went," countered the WindClan cat.

_Are all WindClan cats this argumentative?_

Before Rosepaw could say more than "Well, _I _think—", the sounds of loud voices behind us quickly silenced many of the conversations in the throng. The four leaders were signaling for silence so they could begin the official Gathering news. Slipping away from the cluster of cats, I spotted Sunpaw's bright fur and took a seat next to him. The rippling rows of so many bodies were surrounding and unnerving me. The breath of dozens of warriors ruffled the air.

"Daffodil," Sunpaw muttered suddenly.

"_What?_" I snarled back, staring at him.

"Daffodil," he repeated in a nonplussed voice. "What's a daffodil?"

"Sunpaw…?"

"A she-cat from ThunderClan said I looked like a _daffodil_. What's a daffodil?"

"I have no idea. Are you all right?"

"Yeah." Sunpaw stared off at nothing in particular, his mouth moving soundlessly, eyes narrowed in confused concentration. "I have _never_ heard of a daffodil before."

"Could be an herb. Ask Willowleaf."

"Why would a she-cat say I looked like an herb, Eaglepaw?"

I was tempted to say _why wouldn't she?_ I thought better of it, though, as a brown and black tabby from WindClan swung around to glare at us, daring us to keep talking.

"So now the leaders talk," I breathed, "right?"

Firestar answered for me. The ginger ThunderClan leader was gripping a twisted branch a fox-length or so above the grassy ground, looking out over the assembly. "Greetings to cats of all Clans, of all ages, especially to any newcomers here. Onestar is going to speak first."

He tilted his head in the direction of Onestar, who sat on the same branch as Firestar did. He was just slightly smaller than Firestar, with a lean form and uneven brown tabby fur, and had the trademark WindClan appearance of being constantly on the edge, skittish, almost, but swift. His gaze flitted around unceasingly.

"WindClan is doing well," he meowed, his voice carrying all around the Island's clearing. "We welcome two new warriors with us tonight, Meadowfur and Emberglow, the daughters of Whitetail." His tail waved in their general direction, and I spotted two pale-furred she-cats sitting together in a group of WindClan cats. "We had a skirmish with a pair of eagles recently, but no cat was seriously injured, and I thank Breezepelt, Crowfeather, and Rabbitfoot for their quick wit and brave efforts in fighting them off."

There was a smattering of muttered appreciation towards the warriors—any predators were a threat to all the Clans when at large.

Having finished speaking, Onestar indicated for Mistystar to speak with a nod of his head in her direction. She sat on the far left of the ancient tree, set apart from the other three leaders by a broken branch that hung gingerly from the trunk. "Tigerflame and Gorsethorn's three kits have been apprenticed this past moon," the gray she-cat began. "Moonpaw, Eaglepaw, and Sunpaw are among us tonight. Their mentors are Streamflower, Shadowflicker, and Flamingfur, respectively."

I could sense the wandering eyes alight on all three of us. It suddenly occurred to me how different the three of us were—remembering the two WindClan sisters who'd been almost identical in appearance, we didn't even _look_ like siblings. Moonpaw had inherited the silver fur of Tigerflame's mother, Sunpaw inherited the gold pelt of Gorsethorn's father, and I inherited the brown fur of Gorsethorn himself.

The thoughts were swatted out of my mind as I heard Mistystar again. She paraphrased how the minor flooding of the river had passed and how the Twolegs were becoming less frequent around their nests by the lake before allowing Blackstar to take over.

I had never actually seen the ShadowClan leader before—then again, I'd barely seen _any_ cats from other Clans until now—but Brightpaw and Birdpaw had described him to me. Unmarred white pelt, unblemished black paws, amber eyes like frozen tongues of flame. There was an aura of darkness about him, and power. _Will he say anything about Featherwing's visit?_

He didn't. All he talked about was the prey levels, the birth of a litter of kits to a warrior named Applecloud, and the death of two elders to age-induced fevers.

"Firestar may speak now," he meowed, with a slight drawl, at the end of his brief speech. His expression was filled with knowing.

The ThunderClan leader squared his shoulders again. I watched him closely: every cat knew the stories surrounding him. An old prophecy had foretold his destiny with six simple words—_fire alone will save the Clan_. That was how Reedwhisker told the story, anyway. It seemed ridiculously simple to figure out, I reasoned. "Fire" was the first part of his name, anyway.

"The Twoleg paths near our border with ShadowClan have been quiet as well lately," Firestar meowed to the crowd, "which is expected, since leaf-bare is on its way. My warrior Shimmerfur has recovered from her leg injuries, and we have a new apprentice, Crystalpaw, whose mentor is Skyheart."

He paused, appearing to collect his thoughts, then pointed to the lower ground with his forepaw. "My medicine cat has news for all of you now," he added. "She wishes to give it."

From the place at the roots of the tree where the medicine cats clustered together, one figure rose. I saw the silvery fur of Featherwing, but she remained still, sitting beside Willowleaf. Instead, a tabby she-cat stepped to the front of the clearing to take a place among the deputies, between Lionpelt and a large dark tabby of ThunderClan.

"Leafpool," Sunpaw whispered, his whiskers brushing my ears, making them twitch violently. "She's their full medicine cat. Ever hear the stories about her? Seriously, seems like every ThunderClan cat has more drama than a love affair between a Twoleg and a badger."

I snorted. "Oh really."

Leafpool was petite and graceful, with slowly blinking yellow eyes that were full of concern. It was a little annoying, actually, to be surveyed like a half-drowned kit. I imagined that the other warriors around us weren't too appreciative either.

"We…have a problem," she stated calmly. "A very big problem. And that's an understatement." She sighed. "The Moonpool is gone."

The moment of impact was silent. A second later, the tension shattered as astonishment and befuddlement entered the minds of the other cats. Having already known, I was unaffected. Sunpaw, however, whipped around to stare at me.

"Is this what that ThunderClan cat wanted to talk to Willowleaf about?"

I gave him an apologetic nod. "Sorry. I was sworn to secrecy by at least ten cats, including Mistystar and Willowleaf and Shadowflicker."

There was another loud call for quiet from Blackstar, which shut up everyone immediately. Sunpaw wasn't the only one who'd spoken in response to Leafpool's news. The white and brown tabby continued strongly.

"I don't know how it happened. The stream's just stopped flowing, it seems. The entire thing is dry—all the way down the ThunderClan and WindClan border, all the way up into the unknown territory outside our borders."

"This isn't caused by ordinary draught," Featherwing supplied, rising to her paws. "Streams don't just vanish in a few days. This one did."

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" cried Robinflight. The brown she-cat wasn't sitting too far away from me and Sunpaw, and she was tracing lines in the dirt with her claws.

"What _can_ we do is the question," meowed the WindClan medicine cat, Kestrelclaw.

"Is there any way to get the lake's water up to the Moonpool?" offered one tom.

"Streams don't flow uphill," Firestar pointed out.

"Can't you just talk to StarClan somewhere else?" called someone from the front of the crowd. "What about here? Or next to where the Moonpool used to be?"

"Because the Moonpool was special," insisted Amberleaf, ShadowClan's medicine cat. By now, all of them had assembled before the tree—Willowleaf, Featherwing, Leafpool, Kestrelclaw, Amberleaf, and even Rosepaw—since all the attention of the stirring crowd was focused on them and them alone.

"It was the single place that StarClan designated the medicine cats to meet," continued Featherwing. "Way back when the Clans first came here, it was their new sacred place, the replacement for the Moonstone. There is no other location like that here."

"We _need_ the Moonpool," Kestrelclaw contributed. He was the only tom amongst the she-cats, and his rich, gravelly voice rose above the whispers and mutters of the assembly. "How will the leaders receive their nine lives? How will our new apprentices become medicine cats like us in StarClan's eyes?"

Quiet met his words. No one knew what to say.

My mind was racing. _What would the leaders decide? Or are the medicine cats in charge here? Do they have to find a new Moonpool?_

I could see the leaders glancing furtively at each other. This was beyond their realm of knowledge. They could declare war, trace borders, order attacks, organize hunts, strategize with the most skill of anyone in their Clan…but when it came to the mysterious powers of the medicine cats, they were no better than any other cat on this Island.

_Will they do anything at all?_

"Why don't we just wait to see if the stream starts up again?" called a she-cat on ShadowClan's side. "It's leaf-fall. There're probably just some branches blocking the water's flow or something. I say we wait it out."

"It could be something the Twolegs have done!" shouted Gorsethorn. "Temporary or not, I say we investigate."

Firestar's intense green eyes were fixed on Leafpool, who, I remembered, was his daughter. "How long has it been since the Moonpool was full?"

Leafpool shrugged helplessly. "Featherwing and I noticed it about a moon ago. We didn't say anything until we noticed that it was way lower than it should have been. That's when Featherwing made the rounds to all the medicine cats."

"I agree with my warrior Ivytail," Blackstar meowed, gesturing towards the she-cat who had spoken a moment ago. "We should wait a while. It's natural for the weather to do odd things around this time. If anything, newleaf will get it going again."

Surprisingly, murmurs of assent flickered around the cats.

"Why can't we send out cats to check it out?" asked Lionpelt from his place at the front with the other deputies.

"Because it's almost leaf-bare," replied Onestar. "Any cats we send out into unfamiliar territory would be risking their lives. We don't know if there are any rogues out there that will hurt them, 

to say nothing of the prey levels. They could starve, be killed by the cold, or sickness, or other hostile cats."

"The best thing to do is to wait it out," Blackstar agreed.

"Maybe RiverClan could do something…?" Mistystar spoke up, her voice clear and strong, cutting sharply through the whispered conversations around me. "We are cats of the water. We've dealt with thing the Twolegs have done to our river before."

"Streams don't flow uphill," repeated Firestar. "And, Mistystar, you can't risk your warriors' lives."

"Who's to say they won't steal our prey if we let them onto our territory?" hissed a ThunderClan tom a couple of fox-lengths away from me.

"RiverClan cats eat fish, you miserable mouse-brain," snarled Sunpaw in an undertone. "Not your scrawny mice."

The tom, a senior brown tabby, ignored him.

"I guess it's decided," concluded Blackstar. "We have to wait."

Featherwing looked like she was ready to protest, but Leafpool touched her tail to her apprentice's shoulder, and the silver she-cat was silent. As the leaders descended from their places on the branches of the tree, the talk erupted in the clearing again with full force. Sunpaw turned a face twisted by anxiety to me.

"They aren't _doing_ anything!" he hissed. "_Nothing_. They're passing up the chance to explore new territory and to be heroes."

"It is almost leaf-bare, Sunpaw," I pointed out. "They're right. They can always send out cats when it's warmer if the Moonpool doesn't start flowing again."

Sunpaw gave a disgruntled snort. "Even if that did happen, ThunderClan and WindClan would snap up the chance. The stream and Moonpool is right between their territories. No one else would ever get a chance to go."

The truth dawned on me. "You're just mad because _you _wanted to go on some exciting mission."

"Yeah," he growled.

_It would be pretty cool to travel all the way up the stream, into unknown lands…Tigerflame and Gorsethorn did it. Well, they went to the Mountains, which weren't too unfamiliar, but they still went on a big mission to save the Clans from the sickness. What if I did something like that? Just an apprentice!_

Sunpaw let out a half-dejected, half-angry sigh. "Come on, Eaglepaw. Mistystar's rounding everybody up."

"I'm coming," I meowed absently, thoughts of shadowy trees and unexplored valleys filling up my head.

* * *

That night I dreamed again.

I was slinking through the dark forests, surrounded by whispering shapes of trees and ferns, a crescent moon casting faint gray light through the sharp branches. More cats bounded around me, eyes flashing bright gold in the darkness. _Like a daffodil_, said my mind.

…_What?_

Then there was a screech, and an enormous black bird swooped down from its nest in a great evergreen, hovering over us and beating its wings insanely. Feathers flew everywhere.

"You shouldn't have come!" it shrieked. Strangely enough, it sounded like Moonpaw.

"This is ridiculous!" mewed another voice, louder, different. "You sleep heavier than an elder!"

I blinked. I was awake. Sunpaw was repeatedly bringing down his paw on my flank.

"What are you doing?" I snarled, rolling away from him and jumping up. All the other apprentices in the den were still asleep, and it was still dark outside.

"Come here," the golden-furred tom muttered, swinging around and padding out of the den. Spluttering, I slunk after him, dashing across the camp to the tunnel and wriggling through the thorns. Sunpaw was sitting in the open grass outside the camp, looking out over the fields and groves to the lake, which was reflecting the first barely tangible colors of dawn.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "First you start talking to me about _daffodils_, whatever they are, now you're dragging me out of camp before dawn?"

"I want to see the Moonpool."

It took a second to take in his words. I was certain that my jaw was hanging open and I looked completely stupid. "What? We can't go onto another Clan's territory!"

"We'll stick to the shallows of the lake. Throw them off our scent. I need to see it, Eaglepaw," he insisted, beseeching. "I want to _do_ something."

"I'm not going off on some stupid adventure with you," I retorted. "You'll either get us killed or caught. Nothing accomplished other than a few very angry cats, most of them twice our size."

"I'm smarter than that," Sunpaw meowed confidently. "I know you want to come with me, Eaglepaw. I know you're just saying this because you don't know what to do."

I glared at him, frustrated. Sunpaw could always read me better than anyone else I knew. The ideas tackled each other in my head. The enticing adrenaline of adventure was trying to override everything else, but those annoying sensible thoughts were there. What about what the leaders had said at the Gathering?

_It's not like we're going to be gone forever_.

"Just a quick look?"

"Just a quick look. I promise." Sunpaw stood up. "Are you coming or not?"

I sighed. _No turning back_. "I'm coming," I meowed, getting to my paws to look my brother straight in the eye. "But if you get me killed, Sunpaw, I swear I'll come back and haunt you."


	6. Chapter 4: Thorns and Roses

**A/N: Got this chapter done pretty quickly. I felt bad for the reeeally long gap I left between Chapters 2-3, and since I'm on vacation and have nothing better to do, I'm working faster than ever on all upcoming chapters. There are about 15 in total, but that'll probably increase as time goes on.**

**Mintytooth**: Hehe, you wait and see. Thanks for reviewing!

**Little Black Inkblot: **...Was it really that easy to pick out? Ha. Thanks again.

**Nightfire: **Wow, thank you _so _much! I really try to put a lot of effort and details into my stories, mainly because I think the actual books are so lacking in them. I started reading them when I was around eleven years old, and I still love them, but I think the writing style could improve a lot. So I resolve to write as well as I possibly can, and I'm glad that you like it so much. I am going to emphasize Moonpaw's character more in the next chapter - that's where you really get to know her. :)

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 4: Thorns and Roses**

"We'll stay in the lake's shallows," Sunpaw meowed quietly, his paws pressing into the sand as he walked, making little craters like the shadows on the moon, which was slowly disappearing as dawn broke. "Then we can follow the WindClan/ThunderClan stream up to the Moonpool. We'll have to be quick to avoid any dawn patrols."

"We're gonna need to be invisible to avoid being seen," I muttered darkly. The moors were wide open, and as the world lightened we'd look less and less like errant bits of shade among the rippling lake water. "What do we look for at the Moonpool?"

Sunpaw shrugged. "Anything."

I frowned. The diluted sand shifted beneath my paws when I stepped into the lake, and chills instantly rushed up my legs. I was very jumpy in this open land: WindClan's territory was barren and almost completely devoid of trees, so any cat would be able to spot us from a long way away.

"We'd better travel all morning, as quickly as possible. We can stop once we've cleared the border."

"Do we have to walk that long?" I asked.

"Yes, mouse-brain, unless you want the patrols to find us."

I grunted. We were what, about eight moons old, traveling like fugitives? This was stupid. What was I doing here? We kept walking along the lakeshore, watching the green forest of ThunderClan draw closer and closer. Dawn began to creep across the sky, and Sunpaw quickened the pace.

"We have to go fast. They're bound to discover our absence soon," I pointed out.

"The stream's just ahead. I can see it."

A ribbon of sandy earth was ahead, flowing down into the lake. The stream—or what was left of it. I hoped we would make it away unseen; the dawn patrols would be sent out soon. Woods wreathed the stream ahead, and it felt a bit familiar to be under the trees and beside a source of moving water again. How on earth did Sunpaw know what he was doing in these lands?

"Great StarClan," murmured Sunpaw, halting beside the streambed. "I can see what they meant. There's nothing left of the water."

We turned right to follow the remnants of the stream that wound away between two small hills. The ground was steeper here, and young, open woodland took the place of moorland. The faded leaves of leaf-fall tangled in the sparse undergrowth.

Sunpaw still led, while I kept behind, looking over my shoulder every now and then. My legs were terribly tired. I cast a wary glance behind us again, filling my mind with thoughts of home and sleep, not taking in at first the two animate shapes that were moving behind us. I blinked suddenly, my eyes widening and my heartbeat accelerating.

"Sunpaw!" I hissed. "Look—we're being followed." The golden tom whipped around.

"Great," he growled, looking around. The cats were still a ways off, but I could see their pelt colors—light gray and white. "Come here, Eaglepaw. We can disguise ourselves." He splashed into a small pool of water (all that was left of the stream, I presumed) and rubbed his fur against the muddy ground, staining his bright pelt dark brown. I followed his example, cringing as the cool mud seeped down to my skin. Sunpaw ran upstream and dove into the shelter of a bramble thicket. I squeezed in after him, pushing myself as close to the ground as I could, trying to see past the branches to the trailing cats. I could no longer see them, which meant they were drawing closer.

I hardly dared to breathe as footsteps approached.

"Why would they come so far out here?" Mewed one voice. I recognized it at once: it was the voice of Icepath, a younger RiverClan warrior.

"It'll be Sunpaw's doing," growled a second. My heart jumped—Moonpaw was here too. _Great. Just what we need. _"He'll want to find out about the Moonpool himself, and Eaglepaw will have gone with him."

"They're close…" Icepath murmured. "You're sure it was him?"

"His pelt's easier to spot than a monster on a Thunderpath," Moonpaw meowed. "He'll be easy to see if he's hiding."

Sunpaw snorted very, very quietly. I could see Icepath's white paws just outside the brambles. I held my breath.

"Try further upstream," Icepath suggested, and I exhaled. I could hear the two she-cats pad away, the grass rustling beneath them.

After a moment, Sunpaw whispered, "Let's go."

We slid out of our hiding place. I heard splashes up ahead: Icepath and Moonpaw had crossed the stream. "Keep to this side," I suggested to Sunpaw. "They're on WindClan's territory now."

"How did they find us so quickly?" Sunpaw muttered angrily.

"Moonpaw knows us better than you think. Maybe you woke her up when you attacked me in the apprentices' den."

Sunpaw started to run. He kept away from the stream, concealed in the forest's green shadows. I followed. Eaglepaw, the follower.

And then a white shape exploded into view, colliding with me and knocking me right off my paws. I yowled as I felt claws pressed into my skin. My first thought was that Icepath had seen us and jumped at me, but I looked up into a pair of light green eyes, different than Icepath's amber.

"Who are you?" The she-cat meowed. Her voice was quiet, but filled with strength. I couldn't help but feel respect for her. She smelled of ThunderClan.

"Who are _you_?" Sunpaw retorted defiantly. He stalked up to her, remaining a wary tail-length away from me. "And would you mind getting off my brother and leaving us be so we can get away unnoticed?"

"I'm not getting off him," the she-cat growled. "You'd better be nicer if you don't want me to call your friends there."

Sunpaw's placid expression of critical arrogance fell off his face instantly. It was quite humorous.

"We're from RiverClan," I told her quickly.

"Where're you going?"

"To the Moonpool!" I snarled. "Now get off and be gone, and don't tell anyone anything about us."

"The Moonpool?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening with delight. "Don't be stupid, I'm coming with you! You're off to find out about the water shortage, aren't you? I want to come."

"_You're_ being stupid," growled Sunpaw, advancing on her. I took advantage of her lapse in concentration and pushed her off of me. "You can't come. This is for us to do. Go back to your camp."

"Why would I go back there?" she mewed dismissively. "I don't care if I never see that pack of 'be-a-hero-and-ShadowClan-is-evil' mouse-brains again. And who're you to tell me what to do?"

I stared at her, a bit stunned. "You don't care about your Clan? ThunderClan?"

She sighed. "Don't ask."

"It's your own territory," Sunpaw objected. "Can't you just go there anytime you feel like going?"

"Are you serious? Firestar posted a couple of guards to make sure no one's gonna mess around there."

Sunpaw snarled, frustrated. "Just go away. You aren't coming with us. We don't even _know_ you, and why should we trust a ThunderClan cat?"

"You have to, and you really have no choice, 'cause who's to stop me from telling your plans and whereabouts to the entire forest?" The white she-cat smiled hugely. Sunpaw looked immensely annoyed.

"Fine, then," he snarled. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?" she countered sweetly.

"Sunpaw."

"And you?" She turned her green eyes on me. I regarded her as I would Moonpaw.

"Eaglepaw."

"Crystalpaw," she told us. "And don't just ignore me and pretend I'm not here. I like RiverClan. Any Clan's better than ThunderClan."

"Why's that?" Sunpaw asked. His voice was heavy with annoyance and resign.

"Like I said before. They think they're so pure and perfect. It's always like 'we must help them' and 'we're so kind and caring' and 'oh, never mind those other Clans, we're just going on peacefully'. I _hate _it. Especially Leafpool." Crystalpaw rolled her eyes, and jumped up to walk beside Sunpaw as he turned and began to walk upstream. "She's the ultimate suck-up. D'you know she actually had an affair with a WindClan cat? And she got away with it, too! It's 'cause Firestar's her father. Featherwing's so much nicer."

"Shut up!" Growled Sunpaw. "There are cats looking for us, and at your volume, we'll be heading home in no time."

"Who's looking for us?"

"Our sister," I explained to her under my breath. "And another warrior."

"Ouch. You left her behind? Your sister, I mean."

"Yeah." I crouched down, slinking as close to the ground as I could manage. I wasn't sure how to feel about Crystalpaw. She was talkative, and I could definitely see her having a personality clash with Sunpaw.

Then voices slashed across my thoughts: "Moonpaw, get over here! There they are!"

I spun about wildly, spotting Icepath standing several fox-lengths away, still on WindClan's side.

Sunpaw shouted "_Run!_", and I bolted, following his flashing yellow fur, and I could see Crystalpaw beside me. Icepath cried out in alarm, and I heard water splashing and twigs snapping as she scrambled to follow us.

"Let me lead!" cried Crystalpaw, shoving up to run beside Sunpaw. "I know the way better than you do."

Sunpaw didn't reply, but allowed her to run a tail-length ahead of him. She veered away from the stream and ran up the hill that flanked it, climbing to higher ground before it dropped down to lower elevations again. Then there was another hill, and I could barely keep up: my legs were like stone weights hanging from my body, except they were filled with fire that burned my very veins. I had trouble drawing breath, and my eyes wandered and fell out of focus.

"Sunpaw!" I choked. Then, suddenly, the ground vanished from beneath my paws.

With a yowl of horror I plunged, imagining some gaping void that would swallow me up instantly, but I hit the ground quickly. It was very soft, with small, smooth pebbles scattered everywhere, many pressed into the muddy earth. With a grunt, I raised my head, feeling my muscles flare with fiery pain, and let it drop once again.

"No! Eaglepaw!" Sunpaw meowed frantically from somewhere close by. I heard pebbles slide and felt breath on my ears. "Get up, get up, they're here, they'll take us back…"

"Too late," Icepath's voice rang out. "What were you thinking? _Were _you even thinking? Is this your reason for running away?"

I opened my eyes. The white warrior was standing a fox-length away. I lay in some sort of shallow dip in the ground, and wilting ferns grew all around. Darkened, dying moss was clustered on almost every stone. Water dripped feebly from some overhanging clumps, and some of it gathered in a muddy puddle beneath the steep, near-vertical slope. The streambed twisted away nearby.

"The Moonpool!" I breathed, my throat pressed against the ground. With a groan, I hauled myself up into a sitting position. Mud slicked my chest fur and was splattered about my head and back.

"What's left of it," mewed Crystalpaw darkly. Her white fur was splattered with brown as well.

"I thought you said there were guards here," I muttered. She shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry about that. I wanted to come with you."

"Who's this, Sunpaw?" sang Moonpaw, flouncing over to stand beside him. He looked murderous.

"This is Crystalpaw," Crystalpaw retorted mockingly. Moonpaw looked over at her swiftly, and I saw that her eyes were stony.

"You're not from RiverClan. What were you doing with my brothers?" Moonpaw asked.

"Helping us escape," Sunpaw answered. "So, if you don't mind, as long as Eaglepaw's feeling better, we'll be off. Kindly tell no one of our intentions, whereabouts, or planned destination."

"You're not going anywhere," Icepath asserted firmly.

"Yeah, we are," growled Sunpaw. "Look, Icepath, no one's doing anything about the Moonpool and you know it. Why not?"

"You're apprentices, for StarClan's sake!" Icepath cried, exasperated. "What, eight moons old? And you can't just abandon RiverClan. They might think you're dead, or being held hostage…you could even trigger a war if they interpreted it wrong. Anyway, what do you exactly plan to do? You're not even trained to fight yet."

"You can teach us," Sunpaw replied smoothly.

"And I know something," Crystalpaw added. "I've learned a little."

"_We're_ not going," Icepath stated. "And why are you even here? You have to go back to ThunderClan. And _you_"—she swept her tail in an arc at me and Sunpaw—"have to come back to the camp. You're in enough trouble as it is."

"I want to explore upstream," Sunpaw announced. Surprise trickled through my head; Sunpaw had only mentioned checking out the Moonpool. I wasn't too astonished, though. I should've known that my brother would never just walk away from something like this.

"That's ridiculous. Not even the warriors know what's beyond here," Icepath meowed. She circled around the three of us to block the way out of the hollow.

"Then you can stay," chirped Crystalpaw. Icepath tensed in anger and frustration. "We'll find our own way."

"I'm not leaving you here, and you're not going beyond Clan borders."

"Come on, Icepath." Sunpaw turned to look at the white warrior, a sparkle in his eyes. "Tigerflame talks about you when you were an apprentice. You wanted to go with her to the Mountains, even plotted to run away with your brother, Darkstorm."

"I—what? How did she know that?" spluttered Icepath, her rigidness dropping away immediately.

Sunpaw shrugged. "Darkstorm mentioned it to her once."

Icepath was silent for many heartbeats. I could almost see the two sides of her fighting in her eyes, indecision troubling her every feature.

Moonpaw shook her head. "What about training, Sunpaw?"

The golden tom gestured towards Icepath. "She can teach us!"

Icepath straightened. "Can't we just go back and tell Mistystar?" She asked weakly.

"No," Crystalpaw, Sunpaw, and I all meowed in unison.

"You know," Sunpaw growled, "that no matter what your decision is, I'm going anyway."

"And me," I put in.

"And me," added Crystalpaw.

Icepath sighed. Her eyes flickered around, pausing on each of us for a heartbeat, then she straightened her shoulders. "I hope you've got a plan, because I sure don't."

"Yes!" cried Crystalpaw. Icepath turned her gaze upon the white apprentice wearily.

"What's in it for you?" she queried.

"I want to get away from ThunderClan," Crystalpaw answered without any reservations.

"Why?" Moonpaw mewed.

"Because I don't want to be with them," she explained. "I'm half-rogue. My father's name was Flareheart, Spiderleg's son. He died last newleaf. I just…don't like their ideals. They worship the warrior code to an almost obsessive level, and Firestar's gotten biased. He punishes grown warriors for little things and ignores the wrongs of the cats he likes more. I'm sure you've heard of Leafpool's whole story. I hate my mentor—she acts like I'm two moons old—and everything's so _controlled_."

"Sounds like you're holding grudges," Icepath observed. "Narrow-minded ones."

Crystalpaw sighed in annoyance. "Look. I just want to come with you."

"I don't mind if she comes," I meowed tentatively.

"Why's that, Eaglepaw?" Moonpaw smirked.

"Can't you just go back to being everyone's favorite little smart one in RiverClan?" Sunpaw shot at her. "Leave the dangerous stuff to us."

"You only want to do this so you can get away from the rules!"

"Stop it," warned Icepath, and they were silent at once. She looked hugely pleased with herself. "Ah. So I _am_ the authority here. Was that the first time you've ever shut up when you were told to?"

"No," Sunpaw snarled. "We're leaving now. Crystalpaw, you can lead with me." There was reluctance in his tone as he said this to her.

The white ThunderClan apprentice padded over to him and proceeded to leap up, out of the Moonpool basin, and onto the dry ground.

"You're okay?" Icepath asked me. "That was some fall."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I meowed. My chest hurt, but I didn't say. If I did, Icepath would make us turn back for sure. She went on to follow Crystalpaw, and Moonpaw went after, then me, bringing up the rear. I sped up, wincing, to walk beside Moonpaw.

"What's up with you?" I asked. "Why did you agree to come so quickly?"

"Experience," she replied, her voice aloof and businesslike. "And if we do, by some miracle, find out what's draining the stream, you'll need my help to figure out a solution."

Not wanting to admit that she was probably right, I sped up, wincing as my legs were racked by tiny thorn-pricks of pain, and fell into step with Sunpaw. The obvious distaste for our new traveling mates and the disappointment that we'd been found was written all over his face.

"We should have left them behind," he growled into my ear. "I don't like being in a group like this."

"Thinking of a way to ditch them?" I questioned, amused.

"In progress," he muttered. "We can take Crystalpaw, though."

"Ah." I grinned. "You like her."

"_No_. She's tolerable, I'll admit, and better company than Moonpaw."

"Agreed."

The woods were a lot thicker as we left the ThunderClan borders behind. Trees were older and draped with vines and lichens. Decomposing logs served as mossy homes for new saplings, whose roots twined over the decayed bark and found their way into the nutrient-rich soil. Drooping bracken was tangled with red and yellow leaves. The sun was steadily rising; it was morning now. We followed the streambed a ways before I insisted we get some rest. "I haven't slept all night," I argued. "Neither has Sunpaw."

"Fine," Icepath mewed. She hadn't said much throughout the journey. Her eyes were troubled. _Must be hard for her_, I realized. _The only warrior here, and we pretty much forced her to come along. Even if she'd gone back to the Clan, she'd still be responsible for anything that may've happened to us…_"Youfind somewhere if you want to rest," she told me.

Sunpaw and I obliged. We found a sheltered hollow not far from the dried-up stream, and Icepath kept watch while Sunpaw and I curled up to rest. I didn't dream much, and if I did, I couldn't remember any of it. When I awoke again, it was sunhigh, and Sunpaw had already woken up. I circled around the hollow a few times, and the pain from my fall had mostly subsided, save for some twinges in my chest.

"You're sure you're okay?" Icepath asked quietly. Her amber eyes were round with concern. I'd never seen her acting so serious before.

"Yeah, I'm good," I assured her. She didn't lighten up, though, as we resumed our trek along the streambed.

The Clan scent had all but faded now. A few traces of ThunderClan scent still floated through the air, but maybe that was because of Crystalpaw. The she-cat had barely stopped talking after the short respite, expounding on every single thing she disliked about her Clan—or, rather, every single cat she disliked. And she hadn't stopped. Crystalpaw followed me and Sunpaw around, chattering nonstop.

"And Firestar's way too lenient all the time. You know Leafpool?"

"You've already told us that story, like, twelve times," growled Sunpaw. "You clearly despise her. Only because she broke the rules once or twice."

"Fine then. Daisy?"

"Heard it. Your reasons for her were even more stupid."

"Brambleclaw?"

"Yep."

"Shimmerfur?"

"Several times."

"Look at that," I interrupted loudly. "There's undergrowth up ahead. See it?"

"Yeah," Sunpaw meowed immediately, looking eager to end Crystalpaw's lectures. "Great, Eaglepaw. Funny, it's got flowers. You'd think that they'd all be dead by now."

"Well, it's still not too cold yet," Crystalpaw stated.

"Still. Look." I hurried over to a scramble of thorny fronds. As soon as my paws touched the grass a tail-length away from them, I felt…light. Floaty. Weird. Creepy. As if there had been some kind of weight inside me, but I hadn't felt or noticed it until it was gone. The pain in my chest subsided at once, and the cut on my pad I'd gotten from fishing with Shadowflicker a few days ago felt nonexistent. I twisted my paw up to look at it, and felt shock ripple through me. The small wound was gone completely, leaving not even a scar.

"Sunpaw. Sunpaw. Get over here."

The golden-furred tom padded over, then gave a little jump of surprise as he drew level with me. "Woah." He looked around in wonder, staring at the ground.

That's when I noticed the unnaturally bright green of the grass. Way too fresh and clean for leaf-fall. Slowly, in a dramatic way, I raised my head and took in the full scene before me.

"Crystalpaw?" I meowed quietly.

Crystalpaw padded over, blinking rapidly. "They're pretty," she observed, flicking her tail at a cluster of flowers—in full bloom—about a tail-length away from my paws. They were deep orange in color, lightening to pale yellow in the center, with feathery edges to their long, elegant petals. Flame-colored roses. Not a stain was upon them, no crisp of deadly brown or wilt to their emerald stems. The thorns were smooth and curved to perfect tips. Wide green leaves flowed down from beneath the blossoms.

"I've never seen anything like them." Sunpaw slipped past the flowers, looking around. "Check out these trees—you ever seen such a color?"

"And the grass!" gasped Crystalpaw.

"This is weird. Really weird," muttered Sunpaw. "It's…unearthly." I craned my neck to look up at a birch. Every edge of bark gleamed silver, and the crowning leaves seemed to sparkle.

Leaf-fall or not, this grove wasn't normal.

"Go get Icepath and Moonpaw," I growled to Crystalpaw. She nodded, wide-eyed, and then bolted off into the forest.

"No one's ever discovered this, you think?" I asked Sunpaw.

"Of course not. If they did, they'd move here. I'll bet the prey is incredible."

"But there's no prey-scent at all," I pointed out.

"Even weirder," Sunpaw meowed. His tone was suddenly tenser, carrying a flicker of fear. "But not as weird as that voice."

"What?" I asked sharply. He shook his head. I frowned, pricking my ears up to catch a sound. I could hear him breathing and my own heart beating. There were Crystalpaw's fading pawsteps, and a rustle of the grass where Sunpaw's claws stirred it.

Then I heard it. It was a light, dancing voice, clear and flowing like rainwater over round pebbles, high and feminine. Swooping from tone to tone, it wove through the trees, a crescendo of dark and light and back again. I'd never heard anything like it before, although it was definitely cat; it reminded me of birdsong.

_Song_, said my heart.

I met Sunpaw's anxious gaze. I could see the shimmering trees reflected in them.

We were not alone.


	7. Chapter 5: The Cat With Silver Eyes

**A/N: Enormous thanks to everybody who reviewed, favorited, added TFWU to their story alert, etc.!! I'm probably going to replace the Allegiances very soon with a version that lists all the Clans instead of just RiverClan, but the other three will be abbreviated like the books' versions of the "less important" Clans.  
**

**c****0l0rblind: **Yeah, Crystalpaw is a little bit of myself - I can't stand half the main characters nowadays. I'm totally unlike her in about every other aspect though O.o ...I'm wicked shy and could never be as bold as she is. Thanks for reviewing. :)

**Nightfire:** I always like to think that she-cats are much more complicated and harder to read than toms. XD But Moonpaw is the least-developed of the trio as yet...I'm trying to work in some development for her to come. As for Crystalpaw? Her full story will come...eventually...anyway, thank you so much!

**Little Black Inkblot:** I used to always do that up until a month or two ago. Must've missed it when going back over the chapter to edit out things - I'm trying extra hard to avoid that now. StarClan _will_ come in, I think you'll see that in this chapter. Thank you for all your constructive criticism and consistent reviews!

**Mo0ngazer: **Why thank you very much. :)

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 5: The Cat With Silver Eyes**

"Listen. Listen. Harder. Can't you hear it?" demanded Sunpaw. "It's a voice, it's definitely a voice."

"I can hear it," Icepath replied. "What do you think, Moonpaw?"

"I think Sunpaw's messed up."

"Oh, shut up." Sunpaw rolled his eyes at me.

"We'll follow it," decided Icepath. "If we can hear it, it can't be that far off. But how far do these woods go, I wonder?"

"Well, they look as if they stretch on for some distance," Moonpaw observed. Her silver fur had acquired some kind of pale, faint golden dust. So had Icepath and Crystalpaw's pelts, I'd noticed. Sunpaw was impossible to tell, so I looked down at myself. Even the dust here was weirdly pretty and shimmery and something that Brightpaw would adore.

"Seriously?" muttered Sunpaw sarcastically under his breath.

"_You _shut up," snapped Icepath. She started walking briskly through the trees, leading Moonpaw, who trailed half a step behind. "I can see the streambed. Even the pebbles are shiny—see them there? Like stars."

"Could this be a trap?" Moonpaw stopped abruptly. "We don't know anything about these woods. The entire place is like a sunlit StarClan's forest. For all we know, this voice or whatever could be a bunch of waiting ambushers."

Icepath looked out over the bright foliage with dismay. "She could be right."

"None of us are trained yet for fighting," Moonpaw continued, somewhat imperiously. "We couldn't take on any rogues alone. We don't have any herbs, and seeing as it's nearly leaf-bare, we aren't likely to find many. The prey's low enough to begin with."

"We'll just explore a bit," insisted Sunpaw. "We can use your obvious talents to get away."

"At least you think I _have_ obvious talents."

"Don't start your battle of wits again," Crystalpaw meowed exasperatedly. Icepath looked like she agreed very much. "If you hadn't been so busy with your verbal showdown, you might've noticed that the voice is gone."

That silenced them instantly.

Everyone stood still for several heartbeats, breathing stilled, listening intently. After a moment, Sunpaw snarled, "Where is it?"

"Why don't you go _look _for it?" Moonpaw asked sarcastically, with an air of resignation. She scowled over at Sunpaw antagonistically, but suddenly her green eyes widened and she cried out, "Move, Sunpaw!"

"What d'you—?" Crystalpaw began.

Then a groaning _crack_ split the air, almost literally. I looked up, aghast, as a great arm of bark and wood swooped down from the canopy of the trees, sending amber and orange leaves flying in every direction. With a yowl of stunned fear and disbelief, Sunpaw tumbled backwards not a second too late; the great tree limb hit the ground with a resounding crash and lay there shivering for many long seconds.

Sunpaw lay on his side, gasping, his eyes stretched to bulging point.

"You okay?" Icepath dived over the shattered branches at one end of the branch and nosed a shocked Sunpaw to his paws. She brushed a crinkled leaf off of his head with one forepaw.

"Yeah," he managed to get out, his voice higher than usual. He never once looked away from Moonpaw. "How did you know that was going to fall?"

She let out her breath. "Simple," the silver apprentice replied unsteadily. "I was watching it hanging there for a second, right before it fell. It's a normal tree, not all shiny or anything, and a minute ago I heard it groaning in the wind. There's no scent of squirrel or bird around it at all, not even stale scent, so I assumed they were wary of it because it was old and unstable." She waved her tail at the splintered limb. "Guess I was right."

Moonpaw had always been a horrible liar, and even I could tell she hadn't suddenly become a top-notch deceiver in this moment of great tension.

Icepath, satisfied that Sunpaw was indeed in one piece, crossed over to her again and meowed, "That was well-spotted, Moonpaw. You probably just saved your brother's life."

Proudly, Moonpaw smiled a little. "Thanks, Icepath."

Crystalpaw sniffed at the branch's broken end, tracing the rotted-through wood with her whiskers. She leaped on top of it and dug her glinting claws into the peeling, thick bark. "Can we keep going?" she inquired impatiently.

"Yeah," sighed Icepath. Her expression was tired and regretful. "We haven't got much choice now, really. The sun's going down and we need to find shelter before it gets cold for night."

"It isn't really that cold here, though," Moonpaw noticed absently.

"It will be soon," Icepath answered darkly. "One of you can lead the way for a while. Don't get us killed."

"Any ideas on where to go?" I asked hopefully.

"No," she mewed. She kept ruffling her white fur, trying to shake off the glittering dust.

Moonpaw and Icepath set off again into the shimmering woods. Sunpaw trailed behind the two she-cats, hanging back with me and Crystalpaw, but started talking instantly as the ThunderClan she-cat opened her mouth to speak.

"Are you going to rant more about your beloved Clan?" he asked pointedly.

She gave him a rueful sort of look. "No."

"Thank StarClan," breathed Sunpaw. He moved ahead to walk on Icepath's other side, leaving me with Crystalpaw.

"So," she began. "They're your siblings." She nodded to Moonpaw and Sunpaw each.

"Yeah."

"You're all so different," she commented quietly. Sunpaw had started arguing with Moonpaw again over which direction to continue walking in.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

I sighed again tersely. "It's like I don't fit in," I growled reluctantly.

"You don't fit in? Tell me about it. I'm an expert."

I grinned. "We've noticed. Well…Moonpaw's the smart one, and Sunpaw's the genius when it comes to troublemaking. And me—I'm just the random middle sibling who gets overlooked all the time. The one who's afraid when they're not. Sunpaw is fearless. Moonpaw's too smart to be afraid. But what am I?"

"You're very good with words," Crystalpaw pointed out quietly. I looked up, and our eyes met for a second until I was too uncomfortable and looked away. _I don't think I've ever held a she-cat's gaze for longer than a few seconds…other than Tigerflame, or Moonpaw, or even Birdpaw_. I missed Birdpaw: she had the same social status as I did. Her sister Brightpaw was the pretty 

one (Sunpaw was already infatuated), and she was the other one. The other daughter of Dawninglight. Just like I was the other son of Tigerflame.

What about Crystalpaw? She was ThunderClan's outcast by choice, and I had a feeling that her disapproval of some ThunderClan warriors wasn't quite enough to drive her away from the Clan she'd been born into—more or less—and had promised to give her life for.

I heard a rustle from somewhere ahead. We'd come upon a small grove of young pines, every tip of every needle glittering silver and catching sunlight like unchanging frost. A black bird peered out beadily at us from the apex of the smallest evergreen, then took flight as we got too close for it to trust, beating its wings wildly before wheeling away. A few dark feathers fluttered down around me, and I had an odd sensation. Like I _should_ remember something about this, but had lost the memory.

"That was weird," Crystalpaw murmured. "First bird I've seen since we came into these woods."

"Can you hear anything?" Icepath's voice cut through Sunpaw and Moonpaw's argument, and my thoughts.

"No," meowed Moonpaw, a note of alarm in her voice. "I can't see any more normal trees either." She inhaled shakily. "We shouldn't have come."

The feeling prickled at me again.

"Perfect," snarled Icepath. "This whole _mission_ is ridiculous."

"We've left a scent trail," mewed Crystalpaw. Her voice was subtly tinged with trepidation. "So we can find our way back, right? We're not lost?"

"No," meowed Icepath firmly. She spun around. All the mystical trees looked the same. There were clusters of blue flowers at the roots of a smooth-barked oak, and some beautiful white daisies nearby, and a holly shrub filled with out-of-season scarlet berries wreathing several slender aspens edged with gold. The dry streambed wound through the land, seeming to never end. I listened intently to the atmosphere around me, but I couldn't pick up any more sounds. It was eerily silent—not a single bird's voice rang through the air, nevermind a disembodied she-cat's voice.

"Great, great." Sunpaw unsheathed his claws and scored them across the grassy ground. I glanced down at the long claw marks, then drew a startled breath, harsh with amazement. The earth began to heal itself. The grass curled back into silky strands and the soil slid back into place. A moment later, the ground was unmarked and smooth as it had been before.

"This is really, really weird," I meowed.

"It's totally wrong!" yelled Sunpaw, losing his temper. "First we get lured in here by some stupid voice, then _I_ almost get squashed like an ant by a flying tree branch, then the ground randomly decides to fix itself up. And we're surrounded by magic fairy trees."

We didn't say anything. I stared at him.

"Did you just say _fairy_ trees?" meowed Crystalpaw slowly, enunciating the word _fairy_ as if it were some horrible curse. Moonpaw snorted with laughter.

Sunpaw shrugged. "Learned it from the ThunderClan kittypet. The one from the horseplace? What's her name, Crystalpaw?"

"Daisy."

"Yeah. She also called me a daffodil."

"Say it again," Icepath mewed, her words distorted by her fit of uncharacteristic giggles.

Sunpaw puffed out his chest, assumed an expression of very serious regality, and stated, "We're surrounded by magic fairy trees."

Then someone else spoke.

"Hm. In all my years I've never heard this place described like _that_."

I looked up, and the breath left my throat. I heard everyone else gasp behind me.

A cat stood at the top of a hillock before us, not much bigger than Sunpaw, framed by sweeping bracken and long-stemmed meadow flowers. The sun was behind him, brushing the treeline, and his shadow swept out before him like his own personal, soundless river. Light rimmed his fur, which was a rich shade of brown, seeming to weave through and highlight it in graceful, almost natural patterns. His eyes were narrowed in amused suspicion.

"Who are you?" demanded Icepath at once.

The stranger grinned. "You first."

"Fine then," growled Sunpaw. "We're from the Clans in the forest by the lake."

The cat's head shot up at once. "The Clans? From around the _lake_?" He didn't say anything for a few moments, then added, "So they left their old home forever."

"They migrated from destroyed territory," Icepath explained. Her tone was slow and cautious, deeply mistrustful, her one interest right now to protect us. "We're from the sixth or seventh generation of them since they settled there. I'm Icepath, of RiverClan."

Moonpaw gave her name next. "Moonpaw, RiverClan." If she determined that the situation wasn't life-threatening enough to withhold her personal information, then I was pretty sure it was safe to divulge ours.

"I'm Crystalpaw."

"Sunpaw."

"And Eaglepaw," I finished.

"You're all of RiverClan?" the tom asked. Something was sparking in his eyes, a trace of familiarity and remembrance.

"No," meowed Crystalpaw regretfully. "I'm of ThunderClan."

The tom stiffened at once. "ThunderClan?"

"Unfortunately," she mewed, looking a little brighter at his reaction. "But how do you know of them?"

He shook his head angrily. "It doesn't matter. I don't know any of them. Why have you come here?" His eyes flicked around to each of us, opening fully for the first time, and I swallowed a gasp as I realized that they weren't amber, brown, green, or blue, but a vivid, startling shade of silver.

_Now that…is definitely not natural._

"We followed the stream," elaborated Moonpaw. "It's dried up, as you can tell."

"D'you know whose voice we heard?" Crystalpaw asked eagerly.

He tilted his head. "What voice?"

"The she-cat's voice…it was on the breeze…" Crystalpaw trailed off as the brown tom looked away without a word.

Icepath shook out her fur and cleared her throat. "This stream that's dry—it fuels our Moonpool. It's the place where we communicate with StarClan, our ancestors."

"_StarClan!_" the cat spat. "Do not speak to me of them. Their name shall not be uttered here in my woods. ThunderClan's, too."

Indignant and slightly horrified silence ensued. To preach against ThunderClan was one thing…but _StarClan_ too?

"Uh, who are you to order us around again?" asked Sunpaw defiantly. "You're just a rogue."

"Shut up, Sunpaw," Crystalpaw muttered.

The brown-colored tom smiled wistfully. "Just a rogue. Just a rogue. Well, I, the rogue, have a home, and you seem to be in need of shelter and nourishment. You'll find no prey in these woods, I can guarantee that."

"Why?" demanded Sunpaw.

"They are frightened by its unnaturalness," the tom stated simply. "Now come. You can rest in my cavern." He turned to leave.

"Wait," meowed Icepath. He turned back around, watching her intently now. "What's your name?"

The ghost of a laugh was there on his face for less than a heartbeat. "Call me Flickerpaw," he told her.

"Flickerpaw. That's a Clan name," Moonpaw observed with excitement.

He ducked his head. "I'm no Clan cat," he meowed quietly. Then he turned and started walking up the slope over which he'd appeared, waving his tail for us to follow. I glanced at Crystalpaw and Sunpaw, then bolted after him. The golden tom and white she-cat were right behind me. I caught up quickly with Flickerpaw, walking beside Sunpaw, who walked beside him.

"Why are you out here all alone?" I asked him nervously.

Flickerpaw looked up, scrutinizing me closely. His unnatural silver eyes were as unnerving as the rest of the glowing woods. "I'm not alone."

"Besides us, he means," Crystalpaw clarified.

"I'm not alone. I lived with another."

He talked so strangely for an apprentice. He sounded like Mistystar, or Willowleaf. "Lived?" repeated Crystalpaw.

"Yes. She's dead now. Her name was Rainpaw."

"Sorry. Do you know whose voice we heard? It was a she-cat's."

"I don't know."

Flickerpaw led us through more and more of the beautiful trees. I glanced up at the sky, and saw that the sun was already descending towards the treetops. Sunset would come soon. _How was _

_RiverClan reacting? What about Tigerflame? _My heart clenched at the thought of her, devastated, worried sick about us.

I couldn't help but wonder if ThunderClan missed Crystalpaw. From the way she always talked about them, it seemed as though they wouldn't care if she lived or died. But she was the first cat I'd ever met who talked that way about them.

_Well, I don't exactly know everyone in the whole forest…I've only been to one Gathering, for StarClan's sake…_

Flickerpaw suddenly halted, and his fur flowed around him like water. The fading sunlight was not limited to just lightening his fur: his very pelt was shot through with streaks of living gold, almost like fire. "We are here."

I stepped up beside him and followed his gaze to a clump of feathery bracken. Tiny pink flowers were twined in the grass here. I searched through the foliage carefully with my eyes, and spotted a dark opening concealed by the ferns, barely large enough for a cat like Icepath to fit through. Flickerpaw slid through it, vanishing into the shadows of the opening to some kind of cavern. Crystalpaw followed at once, her white fur standing out, ghostly against the dark. A second later she was gone too. I drew a deep breath, cast a last look at the sun, and plunged into the cave.

The ground should have been earthen (it was a shallow underground cave, after all), but my claws scraped against something hard. There was no light at all, but then I realized that my eyes were clenched shut. I pried them open, my limbs taut and my heart thumping. I was met with sparkles.

The cavern didn't look like a hole in the ground. Not a speck of soil was to be seen on the floor. The base was made of shining stone, translucent, catching light. Its color varied from silvery blues to light yellows to emerald to ruby to orange to brown, one hue flowing into another as smoothly as the colors of Flickerpaw's fur. Parts of the walls and roof were made of the same crystal, mostly near the ground, but the higher segments were made of what I'd expected: hard-packed, light brown dirt. Crystalpaw stood a tail-length before me, her green eyes wide with wonder.

And everything was flashing with light. I looked around for the source, and saw Flickerpaw silhouetted against a tongue of flame. I heard a huge gasp behind me: Moonpaw had entered with Sunpaw. I could see Icepath also, and her face was blank with amazement.

Boldly, I padded closer to the fire. It was contained in a stone basin of light gray stone, and was burning heartily, though it threw no sparks and spewed no smoke. And there was no wood in the basin: in fact, it was totally empty except for the flames.

"How's it possible?" I asked, filled with astonishment. "It's not burning on anything!"

"It's not natural fire," Flickerpaw meowed, sounding just the tiniest bit exasperated. "This whole cavern isn't natural, obviously."

"Of course not," mewed Icepath. "How on earth did all this get here? The crystal walls, the fire…?"

Flickerpaw, aloof, seemed to emerge from deep thought and looked around at us. "You may rest here tonight. I think you're all tired."

"We are," agreed Sunpaw heartily.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Flickerpaw," Moonpaw meowed respectfully. Her tone wasn't quite trustworthy yet.

He turned away. "It has been long since I was in the company of others." He padded across the cavern, dusked behind the stone basin, and curled up in a nest of shining moss and grass.

The rest of us just looked at each other for a moment. Then Icepath gave herself a little shake and meowed, "We all need our sleep. There's more moss over here." She flicked her white tail behind her, where moss was arranged in a neat row.

"It's like he knew we were coming," Crystalpaw observed quietly. She followed me over to the bedding and began to form a circle with the soft, fragrant plants.

"All of this is really freaking me out," whispered Moonpaw, who had settled down on Crystalpaw's right and was grooming herself. Golden dust was collecting on the moss already.

"Do you think that all of this has something to do with the Moonpool?" I asked, arranging myself amongst the fronds. Icepath had set out her own nest, but she sat up watchfully, grooming the dust from her fur, her blue gaze flickering between her own flank and the cat behind the basin.

"It could," Moonpaw answered. "Flickerpaw might know where the stream begins, and could help us figure out what to do. Did you notice that it ran right past the cave's opening? What _I_ want to know is how he ended up out here. He has a Clan name and knowledge of the four Clans and StarClan."

"But he has something _against_ StarClan," pointed out Crystalpaw. "What if he doesn't want to help us restore the medicine cats' connection with them?"

No one replied.

We couldn't think that way.

But these strange lands had a soothing effect on the mind, and I was drifting into dreamless sleep. Before the comforting dark filled me, I saw the glint of silver eyes watching us from behind the fire.


	8. Chapter 6: Across the Moonlight

**A/N: As usual, thanks to everybody who has reviewed and everyone else who has read this story! _30_reviews is something I hardly imagined possible for me.  
**

**xxbeen.historicxx: **I love Flickerpaw so much. I tried to make him as unusual and different as possible, totally unfamiliar from the usual Warriors characters. Glad you like the result. :)

**Little Black Inkblot:** Well, the woods are far up the stream, and the ThunderClan cats rarely/never stray outside the territory of the Clans...so far. Interesting perception. And yeah, I want to make every chapter contain something important to the plot, keeping people reading to see what happens next. Thanks!

**Nightfire:** I've always imagined that somewhere deep down Moonpaw idolizes Sunpaw a bit, and that's where she gets her attitude and remarks from. I based her loosely off of a friend of mine. You'll eventually learn about Crystalpaw's story, but she's a hard cat to reach. She'll need a lot of persuading to get her to speak about herself. Flickerpaw...you'll see!

**Allan Pike:** Thank you. :)

**Nightclaw:** Connecting with the characters is like 50 of what I try to put into my writing. Thanks!

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 6: Across the Moonlight**

The sunlight was thrown off of every little rough aberration in the colored stone walls and bounced back a hundredfold off every other surface, creating a webbed rainbow of dazzling light in the cavern, mist-sunset-river-forest-lightning-starshine. The silent, smokeless fire looked dull now in the morning light. Flickerpaw had risen at dawn to stand silhouetted at the opening of the cavern, watching the sun rise. He'd disappeared as soon as Crystalpaw, the first of us to wake up, opened an eye.

"He freaks me out," Moonpaw whispered to Icepath. "He's, like, a ghost."

"It's like this whole place is full of ghosts," Crystalpaw agreed darkly. "Ghosts and gold. Starlight and sunlight. Pain and healing. Everything here balances out."

I didn't say that she'd echoed my thoughts exactly. But with prettier words.

Sunpaw shifted around restlessly, constantly flicking off traces of golden dust off of his bright-colored fur. "Hunting, anyone? Flickerpaw can show us to where this sparkly magic forest ends, if he's around."

"I'll stay here," Crystalpaw meowed quietly. "I like this cavern."

"I'm coming with you too, all right?" Icepath said this as a firm statement, not as an inquiry. "Moonpaw?"

"Of course." My sister brushed her tail-tip along my flank as she passed me by to go with Sunpaw and Icepath.

"I'll stay here too," I decided. "Keep Crystalpaw company." This was partially true. I wanted to get to know her better, and I didn't want to leave the golden woods just yet. They had a force over me, something that pulled me back whenever I thought about leaving. There wasn't anything alien or mind-controlling about it either—it was like an instinct. An instinct to stay in this remarkable place.

"See you, then," Sunpaw meowed, waving his tail at me before vanishing through the tunnel. Once the three of them were gone, Crystalpaw shifted restlessly and stood up, moving to crouch beside the bowl-shaped stone basin. Nervously, I sat down next to her, keeping a few tail-lengths away.

She whispered, "Eaglepaw?" I was a bit startled.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think would happen if something touched it? The fire, I mean."

I frowned. "You mean like if _you_ touched it? I wouldn't say that'd be the smartest thing to do…"

She didn't take her eyes off of the dancing flames. "Can you get a bit of that moss over there?"

"Why?" I said this as I crossed the cavern once more and gathered up a scrap of loose, curling moss in my claws.

"I want to try something." She accepted the sprig with a quick nod of thanks—her eyes flickered away from the fire for a second to see me—and balanced it on the pad of her right forepaw. Taking careful aim, she gently tossed the moss, and it rolled to the edge of the basin a whisker's breadth away from the fire. Astonishingly, it didn't catch. It remained there, orange in the light, totally unaffected by the close proximity to a source of intense heat. From here next to Crystalpaw I could feel the warmth.

_Yet another freaky thing._

"Ha," breathed Crystalpaw. Slowly, she raised the same forepaw and carefully moved it closer and closer to the flames, her claws extended, curls of gray against gold, like the silhouettes of tree branches against the sunset sky.

"Wait—hang on, Crystalpaw, that's not—"

"If the moss didn't burn, it can't hurt me either, right?" she interrupted impatiently, her voice laced with contained excitement and trepidation. She flexed her claws, sheathing and unsheathing them, then inhaled in a steadying way and inched it closer and closer until…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Flickerpaw's commanding and dark voice made us both jump in surprise. Crystalpaw's extended paw dropped instantly to her side, and we both turned guiltily to see the silver-eyed tom alight on the multicolored floor of the cavern without a sound. If he had been Ashenrain he would have been pointed and scolding, if he had been Willowleaf fussy and irritated, if he had been Shadowflicker appraising and sharp, if he had been Tigerflame annoyed and amused, if he had been Lionpelt logical and visibly angry. But he was none of these—just blank, unfathomable, calm. It was more unnerving than a law-abiding Sunpaw deciding to host a peace gathering for cats of all Clans and ages to discuss their problems.

He bowed his head, avoiding our questioning gazes, and slipped off into an alcove to brood in silence.

"Why not?" Crystalpaw called over to him demandingly. When she got no reply, she scowled and sighed quietly before scratching at the stone floor in irritation.

"He must have his reasons," I decided in a mutter. "Otherwise he'd've let you touch it, right? Probably for your own good."

"Probably," she repeated. Her claws couldn't seem to make any visible markings on the stone.

"Do you think they'll find any prey?" I continued, changing the subject awkwardly.

"Sure," the ThunderClan she-cat replied, her voice low and her mind obviously elsewhere.

I decided to leave her alone with her thoughts, though I half-wanted to stay. Crystalpaw was a remarkable she-cat, who was willful enough to defy her Clan or stupid enough to resist it. She had power in her words, something I severely lacked. With a glance at her, I retreated to the other end of the cavern where the moss had been gathered for us and sat down, contemplating our situation. It was all so enormous and filled my head up to the top, except for a little corner where thoughts of RiverClan lingered. I wondered if Tigerflame had launched a huge search for us by now. Familiar twinges of regret poked at my heart as I imagined it: RiverClan patrols traveling to the other Clans, telling them of our disappearance, scouring the territory and beyond—Shadowflicker would take patrols out to search the lands outside RiverClan's border with the wilderness—searching the river and lake for bodies…

Shuddering, I lay my head down and dozed for a while. Bits of dreams tossed themselves around in my head, light and fleeting as butterfly wings. I thought I saw the silver warrior who'd shown me images in that StarClan pool, but it turned out to be a reflection of the moon on a lake. Then there was a tall tree, stretching endlessly upward, scratching the sky with long talons of bark and leaf. The four Clan leaders sat bickering at its roots. Sunpaw's face swam sickeningly before me, disintegrating into flecks of gold dust that Brightpaw, back in RiverClan's camp, danced in.

Then the moon reflection returned, and a cat burst out of the lake water, and it was Silverpool again, her green eyes flashing like the sun catching on Flickerpaw's leaves. They blinked slowly, and her voice sounded in my head, her mouth unmoving.

"_A traitor can be the bravest warrior,_

_Silver will be blue again,_

_And the Moonpool shall be renewed in the glory of white fire and death._"

Silverpool's words rang in my ears, echoing until she opened her jaws and spoke to me directly. Her image swam in my dream-vision, and she was fading already. I glimpsed the green and blue stone of the cavern walls. "There is fire in him," came her whispering voice.

I was awake, and Silverpool was gone again. Irked, I shifted over heavily, trying to work out why she even bothered to talk to me if all she was going to do was whisper riddles and nonsense in the kinds of mysterious ways that reminded me of elders' stories. I already _knew _that Flickerpaw wasn't normal. Frustration pulsed through my veins. What about the rest? Was it a prophecy, or just some maddening string of words my mother's mother had decided to drive me insane with?

Probably not the latter.

_But she could have been clearer if she wanted to give me a message,_ I thought. _Hm. White fire and death? That doesn't sound good. How can those renew the Moonpool? Is that a location's description? And the silver and blue thing—could it mean…the blue water melting the snow in the Moonpool? Maybe._

_Why are these things never simpler!?_

And then there was the last thing she'd uttered. _There is fire in him. _What did that mean? I could tell that he was the sort of cat who'd get angry easily, but why tell me that? This was ridiculous, like so much else. Glowering, I shifted again to look across the cavern, and my gaze landed on the flames in the stone basin, and I froze.

_Fire in him?_

_That fire?_

No. It couldn't be. A cat needed blood and veins and muscles and organs to live. Anyway, how could there be fire _inside _him? Then again, none of the stuff here was remotely normal. But that was insane. Silverpool's phrase had to be a metaphor…didn't it?

Looking around again, I saw that Flickerpaw had surfaced from his silent solitude, and was talking to Crystalpaw quietly near his nest behind the fire basin. Icepath, Moonpaw, and Sunpaw still hadn't come back.

I had a bit of an inner struggle for a few minutes, and then rose with new determination inside me. I padded purposefully over to where Flickerpaw and Crystalpaw sat together.

"Flickerpaw," I meowed casually. "What can you tell me about that fire over there?" I pointed to the basin with my tail. He stiffened at once; he was no good at hiding his feelings. "Anything?" I persisted.

"Possibly," he replied coolly. "Why?"

I faltered for a moment. Crystalpaw was watching me. Thinking of what she would do, I decided to be totally frank with him. "Because I just had a dream," I began, stumbling over the first few words, unused to standing up to cats like this, "and my mother's mother of StarCl—who's _dead_ came to me and told me the oddest thing. She said that you had fire inside you. I wondered if it was connected to that fire."

Flickerpaw didn't respond, merely looking firmly away from me. Crystalpaw stared at me in mild shock, but I kept my eyes on Flickerpaw. "And why are all the trees like this? The cavern, too, and grass and flowers…and the air is…like…healing, makes you feel better, calmer, stronger. I want to know why."

"I've never trusted anyone since…" Flickerpaw shook his head vigorously, glaring at me. "Why should I trust a Clan cat?" he spat. He rose to his paws. He was taller than me.

"Why shouldn't you?" Crystalpaw put in sharply. "I agree with Eaglepaw. I want to know what you are."

"I can't trust anyone."

"You can trust us. We won't tell if you don't want us to," Crystalpaw promised earnestly. "Look. We know that you trust us at least a little, 'cause we're Clan cats, but you've let us stay in your cavern."

"Maybe it's because you're different," Flickerpaw meowed enigmatically.

"Please tell us," Crystalpaw persisted, her voice rising with growing intensity. "It's our right to know who we're dealing with. All you have to tell us is why the woods are like this and why you're here and whatever else."

The brown-flame tom gave each of us a murderous glance. "No."

With that, he stalked away to his nest behind the fire basin.

Exhaling angrily, Crystalpaw turned around and clambered out of the cavern through the hole. I sat there for a second, two forces battling in my head, then decisively followed her. She stood not far away, shredding the ferns with her claws, snarling in frustration as they slowly healed themselves.

"This is _stupid_," she growled. "_Stupid_. _Stupid_."

I hovered behind her, flinching as she whirled around.

"Sorry," I meowed instantly, looking at her, then away, then at her, then away, unable to decide whether she'd yell at me or not. "Sorry…er…I'll go."

She sighed heavily. "It's okay, Eaglepaw."

Wishing I'd stayed down in the cavern, I glanced all around. _Well, it was either go up here with prone-to-shouting Crystalpaw or I-hate-all-of-you Flickerpaw._

"Hey," I meowed. Across the woods around the cavern was a bristling cluster of sun-tinged maples, fronds green with newleaf and red with leaf-fall and white with leaf-bare all at once. In its branches sat the black, crow-like bird we had encountered briefly back when we first entered the woods, soon after the branch had almost hit Sunpaw.

"Woah." Crystalpaw crept closer. "Is that…?"

"The same bird? Looks like it."

Crystalpaw edged closer by a few more tail-lengths, her light green eyes fixed on the unmoving bird. Its small, dark head turned towards us, and I caught a glimpse of beady eyes like two sparks enclosed in water droplets that had been planted in the bird's skull. Then it opened its sinewy beak and loosed a raucous caw, ragged and piercing, before flapping away over our heads.

"Is it just me…or does it always seem to do that?" muttered Crystalpaw.

"Isn't just you," I assured her.

* * *

Later in the day, Icepath, Moonpaw, and Sunpaw returned.

Crystalpaw and I had retreated into the cavern again. She sat off alone, halfheartedly grooming her fur which was speckled with the shining dust and twisted in places with twigs, both Flickerpaw's-woods and normal-woods. I crouched in my nest, facing away from her and the fire. One claw extended, I lightly traced patterns on the wall of darkly lustrous stone, trying to remember the exact locations of everything in RiverClan's territory.

Flickerpaw rose like a spirit from the earth's center and crossed his cavern to the tunnel. "They're coming," he meowed. Neither Crystalpaw nor I bothered to ask him how he knew. We wouldn't get an answer, anyway.

We waited in pressured silence for several minutes until we heard the sounds of approach. Leaves crinkled, pebbles rolled, and voices drifted from the distance. The mouthwatering scent of freshly-caught prey filled me with hunger. Moonpaw's silver face finally appeared in the opening of the cavern, and two mice dangled by their tails from her teeth. She flashed us a grin and leaped down into the half-lit, flickering shadows, dropping her mice on the stone floor. Sunpaw followed with a scrawny rabbit, and Icepath carried another mouse with a finch. I took a mouse: it was the most familiar of the prey. RiverClan cats' diets were mainly comprised of fish, mice from the meadows, and water voles that thrived in the reeds and river banks. I wished that there was a river nearby for fishing.

"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find all of this," Icepath remarked breathlessly, beckoning everyone to take something.

Flickerpaw took nothing. I realized that I'd never seen him eat. I devoured the mouse swiftly, wanting him to talk. I gave Moonpaw and Sunpaw a meaningful look, urging them to hurry up. They looked a bit bewildered, but obliged. Crystalpaw finished off the finch, and we all stared at Icepath until she began to gulp her mouse a bit quicker.

When all traces of fresh-kill had vanished from the cavern, I turned to Flickerpaw, who had watched us, unmoving, from a spot close to the entrance. "Now you have to talk," I told him.

"Talk?" Sunpaw repeated instantly, glancing from me to the brown-flame tom. "About what?"

"About who he really is, and why he hates the Clans so much, and why the forest here is like this," replied Crystalpaw, fixing Flickerpaw in a stern stare.

Flickerpaw sighed lightly with the edge of a growl. "I've never told anyone of this," he meowed slowly and carefully. "And I never intended to. The past should stay in the past."

"Cats can learn from the mistakes of the past," stated Icepath, "and so prepare themselves for the future."

After a brooding pause, Flickerpaw replied, "Indeed." He looked sullen and uncertain. "Eaglepaw will tell you about his dream first." Flickerpaw turned his silver eyes to me.

I blinked. "What dream?" inquired Moonpaw.

"I…had a dream about Silverpool."

"Silverpool?" Icepath repeated instantly. "Tigerflame's mother? Your mother's mother?"

"Yeah. She told me something. Some kind of prophecy, or riddle." I told them her words.

"But what does it mean?" asked Icepath. "_White fire and death? _How can that renew the Moonpool? Does someone have to die for it to happen? I hope not."

"I don't think so," I continued. "She also said something about Flickerpaw." I tilted my head toward him. "She said that he had fire in him."

"What?" Sunpaw meowed, confused.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Moonpaw asked, turning to face Flickerpaw.

Flickerpaw sighed again. "I'll tell you." He sat down, belly against the floor of his cavern, paws playing around each other in discomfort. We arranged ourselves in a half-circle around him, each watching, breathing. He closed his eyes, preparing himself, assembling bits of information inside his head. After a moment or two, his eyes opened, and he began.

"Of old there was a leader of ThunderClan called Duskstar. I assume you've heard of him, Crystalpaw."

She nodded. "They always praise him for his wisdom and his love for his kin. He was leader in the old forest when an expedition was sent out to help a group of rogues who were in trouble."

"Yes," Flickerpaw meowed, drawing out the _s_ in a kind of sneer. "He sent a group of seven ThunderClan cats to accompany a pack of terrified rogues who'd come to find a new home. Their lands were haunted by a pack of hounds who'd escaped from their masters: a common problem amongst organized groups of cats, no? Duskstar agreed to help them, sending the patrol to be back in one moon's time. Among the seven was his daughter, an apprentice at the time, called Mistpaw. She was a brilliant young she-cat, bright and happy, and everyone loved her, especially her father."

"Moonpaw, anyone?" Sunpaw mewed pointedly. The silver she-cat shot him a deadly look. Flickerpaw seemed to send rays of warning onto both of them with his eyes, and nothing else happened. He started to speak again.

"Duskstar didn't want to send her on the quest, but her mentor was going, and she begged and beseeched her father for days and nights. He finally allowed her to go. They departed at midnight on the last day of newleaf. The seven cats accompanied the rogues to the foothills of the Mountains; I doubt there are many left now—there were only a loose gang to begin with."

This was his first personal reference in the story. I wondered if it was intentional or not.

"The dogs were vicious, and there were five of them all together. That had teeth blackened by maltreatment and their fur was ragged and matted with the flesh and blood of their kills. They had no leader. Even if the biggest and smartest of the lot were to be killed, the rest would fight on till the end. They were one single entity, one force. It wouldn't be an easy battle, and the ThunderClan cats knew it.

"They launched their attack at dusk, when the dogs were drowsy and bloated from devouring their kills before going to sleep. A couple of warriors went in first to ambush the dogs where they slept in shallow holes they had dug underneath brambles and thorns, going for their eyes, and wounding three of them this way. The apprentices and remaining two warriors, accompanied by some of the rogues, charged the dogs as they ran out of their lair. They fought. Everyone was hurt. No one escaped unblemished, physically _and_ mentally. The best technique was to get onto their backs and attack their necks, heads, and eyes. At the end, only one ended up dead. The other four only fled because they could no longer see through their ruined or bloodied eyes.

"Three of the rogues were killed, and one of the ThunderClan warriors.

"The surviving six of ThunderClan's deployment rested for many days, the horrific memories of the savage animals in their minds, their wounds slowly healing by the chance skills of one of the rogues and the unusual herbs of that region. Mistpaw was silent for three entire days, and she barely ate and slept roughly. It was a long and trying process of recovery.

"In the end, the six returned more or less to normal, and they nursed their skills and their minds back to their prime. But then the rogues betrayed them. The seven demanded payment for their efforts, and the rogues decided to take them to a place that was beautiful beyond the dreams of mortals.

"Here.

"The rogues had seen these woods before, and told the Clan cats that they believed that those who walked amongst the golden trees and everlasting blossoms would have good fortune and life after death. In truth, they had no concept or belief in spirits or star-bound heavens.

"The ThunderClan cats were led to the stream, and eventually to these woods, to this very same cavern. There was a stone rolled on top of the tunnel, and it took all seven ThunderClan cats and the rogues to remove it. They descended down into the cavern, and there they found a middle-aged she-cat, wild and scraggly, with silver eyes and flames in her black fur. She was called Celandine. The six were awed and frightened, but accepted her offer of refuge nonetheless.

"Mistpaw was enchanted by the flickering flames in the stone basin. She could hardly sleep. Celandine was talking to the warriors, and behind their backs the gray apprentice came up to the basin. There she sat for a while, watching it in its cycle of gold and amber and orange, but then she made a terrible mistake.

"She touched it. She reached out and poked at the flames with a forepaw, and then something happened.

"Her body became rigid, and she shook fiercely, yowling out to the skies while the flames roared around her. It went on and on, until they died away and she was revealed again, but she was changed, her fur shot with fire and her eyes like starlight on water. And the rogue—she was broken and old and feeble, older than any cat ever, barely a skeleton. Celandine turned to dust almost instantly.

"Mistpaw had taken the Fire."

Nearby, I saw Crystalpaw shudder.

"The warriors were horrified. All the golden trees became mortal and ruined and dead with her change, but whatever she touched became beautiful again. The earthen floor of the cavern, which seconds before had been rainbow diamond, crystallized beneath her paws once more. The prey and other animals fled, afraid of the unnaturalness. She couldn't go back to ThunderClan, or she'd destroy the forest and drive away the prey. She didn't need to eat or breathe: the Fire had filled up every inch of her, and she needed those things no longer. And she couldn't die, either: she was immortal. Duskstar would be devastated and terribly angry.

"So the ThunderClan warriors decided to do something about it.

"There were other apprentices within the group. Two others. One of them had a brother back in ThunderClan, and parents. The other had no siblings, and his parents were killed by a fox when he was younger. So they took him in his sleep and brought him to the Fire. He was transformed into what Mistpaw was, what the rogue Celandine had been. An immortal who was forever bound to the Fire and the cavern, lest another touch the Fire and take his place.

"They left at dawn for ThunderClan again. Since Mistpaw had only been an immortal for a brief time, she retained her youth. The other rogue had been there for long years, so she became what she should have been when the Fire was taken out of her, just like the trees and flowers and grasses. Only one other stayed behind: the other apprentice, who loved the one who had been condemned to the Fire's fate to save Duskstar's daughter. But she grew old, and died eventually. 

Her name was Rainpaw. But I swear she's still here, and there are little bits of her in the sun, the snow, the flowers; you can glimpse her between the raindrops and across the moonlight.

"But the other apprentice, still young with the immortality of the Fire, lived on alone."

Flickerpaw looked up at us with silver fire in his eyes. "I am that apprentice, and I have lived here in the Fire's cavern for nearly five hundred moons."


	9. Chapter 7: Immortality

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the long hiatus! I'm sure my last months of school were as hectic as everyone else's, and at one point I selected about three pages of this chapter and just hit "delete", since my writing was pretty crappy at that time. So, after much procrastination and laziness, I've gotten back on track. In this past month and a half I've been to Washington, D.C., taken math finals, graduated from the school I've been in for eight years, worried excessively about high school, and a lot more. I've also written parts of later chapters, which will speed up future updates. Thanks for enduring the wait and for continuing to read!**

**Leafwing:** Merci beaucoup! I hope this chapter doesn't bore everyone _too_ much…there's a lot of dialogue and not too much action. I'm saving the latter for later.

**Nightfire: **Oh, you'll see.  I have everything planned out already, and I think it'll be pretty good. There's a lot of action planned for later chapters, certainly. Right now I'm working really hard on character development, so I'm happy to see I'm getting everyone's individual personality across. Thank you!

**Rainbowstar of FrostClan:** You will get Silverpool's back story in chapter nine or so. I don't want to overload the info right now, but it will come. Thanks for the review!

**Painted Inkblot:** Your reviews always get me thinking—I think they motivate me more to come up with more intelligent explanations and writing. Which is a great thing. As for the golden woods, I always like to think of all the things the Clan's _don't_ know, like the Tribe of Endless Hunting, and how they struggle to understand other spirits and forces outside their world. That's what TFWU will revolve around as the story progresses. As far as reviews go…I've a couple of IRL friends on here who've only got about a dozen reviews each, so I was fairly lacking in confidence of doing any better at first. But thanks for your support and praise that helps me every time.

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 7: Immortality**

"It can't be." Icepath's hushed voice ghosted across the cavern like a whisper on the wind.

Flickerpaw smiled grimly at her. "It's true. You can do anything to me—try to drown me in water, smother me, starve me, hurt me—but I need no air, blood, nourishment, or heartbeat to live. I have nothing left inside me but the Fire."

We could only stare at him, aghast. Crystalpaw looked mortified and terribly angry, as if adding a new item to her list of ThunderClan's wrongs in her head. Sunpaw's eyes were wide, his expression infallible. Icepath shifted in her place, drawing herself closer together and gazing upon Flickerpaw with such great compassion in her eyes it was almost heartstopping.

"But how is that even possible?" Moonpaw rose to her paws accusingly. "That's insane. No living animal can live off some raw energy—how could this _Fire_ have sucked everything out of you and…inserted itself?"

"It is what it is, Moonpaw," Flickerpaw meowed lightly. "I can't explain it. Neither could Celandine or the rogues or even Mistpaw."

Icepath watched him closely. I could see her eyes flitting from one part of him to the next, taking him all in as if for the first time. "I wonder if Willowleaf or any of the medicine cats could explain it," she mused.

Flickerpaw shrugged again. "I'd love to see one of those sweet little she-cats come out here and try to solve this big old mystery."

Moonpaw glared at him. "Not all medicine cats are like that," she growled.

"Are you one?"

"No," she retorted. "Mothwing was probably the smartest she-cat I've ever met, other than Mistystar. She had a temper, too. Willowleaf fought alongside my mother's mother Silverpool. WindClan's medicine cat is a tom, Kestrelclaw."

"Leafpool can fight," Crystalpaw added grudgingly. "Though she still tries to talk Firestar out of every battle. Remember those rogues from the mountains who attacked the Tribe of Rushing Water before coming to get the Clans? Leafpool was all like, 'Let's negotiate with the bloodthirsty monsters who want to kill us!' and 'We must avoid this battle!'"

"Enough with the ThunderClan bashing," Sunpaw cried, exasperated and annoyed. "Go find some nice tree stump and rant to that. It'll listen and not argue."

"Maybe I will," the white apprentice answered.

"Maybe you should," Sunpaw shot back.

"Maybe you should stop fighting," Icepath inserted.

"We're not fighting," the two of them spoke almost simultaneously, but their voices collided and ran over each other's in a battle for dominance. Each glared at the other afterwards.

Icepath sighed, then moved to stand between the two. "All of you convinced me not to drag you back to RiverClan from the Moonpool," she meowed. "_Please_ don't make me regret it."

Flickerpaw snorted quietly. "You mean you don't regret it already? I would, if I were you."

"Don't say that," Icepath chastised desperately.

"There's regret in almost everything," the brown-flame tom stated matter-of-factly. "Rainpaw had her regrets when she chose not to return to ThunderClan."

"What happened to Rainpaw?" Moonpaw wondered out loud, focusing on Flickerpaw and eyeing him carefully. "Why did she die, I mean?"

Flickerpaw got to his paws and meandered over to the cavern wall, lightly touching his head to a swath of silvery red stone and letting his eyelids fall into place. "She was old," he said simply.

"Couldn't the Fire help her?"

"No," he murmured. "There can only be one carrier—one cat touches the heart of it in the basin, the other loses it. That's how it works. I didn't want her to undergo the horrible transformation either."

"So even if two touched it at once…?" Moonpaw theorized.

"What are the odds of them both hitting it at exactly the same time?" Flickerpaw turned away from the cavern's wall and slipped over to the Fire's stone basin.

"And what about your woods?" continued the silver she-cat. "How does that happen?"

Another sigh. "I'm not an expert, Moonpaw. From what I can guess, as soon as an intelligent being comes in contact with the heart of the Fire, here in this cavern, all the Fire existing in other life forms is extinguished and recycled back here, where it returns to the basin and some is given to the new host. Did I tell you that the forest around here turned to dust and ashes and crooked trees when Mistpaw took the Fire?"

"That makes sense," Moonpaw meowed. "If Celandine was so old she died instantly without the Fire's immortal strength, the forest and plant would be that old too."

Flickerpaw looked back at her. "You're an intelligent cat, Moonpaw," he observed. Seeming to brood on this for a moment, he picked up where he left off a few heartbeats later. "It was quite a sight when I first walked out there as an immortal," he mewed bitterly. "The dust of the flowers and bracken swirled back together like a backwards snowfall as I gave them a little bit of the Fire. A little bit of immortality."

"So, wait," Icepath meowed, her face creased in concentration. "Everything you touch gets a little of the Fire, therefore becoming immortal?"

"Everything I touch gets a little Fire," responded Flickerpaw, "but not everything becomes immortal. Simple things like leaves and stones and raindrops are easily transformed by the tiny energy waves I give off. A tree is harder. A bird would take days of exposure to me before being affected enough to gain immortality. You would take a very long time, a very long time."

Sunpaw shook his head back and forth in wonder. "So you have the Fire in you from the basin, which is like the ultimate source, and tiny little bits of it escape into everything _you_ touch. The bigger the thing, the less affected 'cause of the size factors."

I exhaled deeply. "It's so complicated."

"But," meowed Icepath, "how would these tiny little bits affect us in the long run?"

Flickerpaw laughed shortly. "What do I know of death?" He laughed again. "Maybe they'll tack on a couple of days to your life. Maybe give you a boost in strength or make your eyes glint a bit more." He chuckled darkly to himself and shook his head at the cavern floor. "I've been alone for far too long, Icepath. I've long forgotten what it's like to be mortal."

No one else spoke for a long time after that. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to make a move. It was finally Sunpaw who broke the silence that had occurred once more.

"I'm up for a stroll. Coming, you two?" He flicked his tail at me and Crystalpaw. We obliged swiftly, wanting to get away from the discomfort. I could sense Flickerpaw's silver eyes raking our backs as we ascended to the open sky. Sunpaw bounded a short distance away from the cavern opening, crossing the dry streambed, ducking around some glimmering ferns. I followed him, Crystalpaw behind me.

"That was…that was…" Sunpaw struggled for the proper words.

"Very illuminating?" I supplied.

"It was _sickening_," Crystalpaw growled, tearing at the soft grass with her claws. "ThunderClan is nothing more than a pack of rogues."

I glanced at Sunpaw, and he looked back at me, the fur above his eyes lifted in an expression of something like sarcasm. I could sense the contradicting, trouble-stirring air that so often hung around my brother.

"You know, Crystalpaw, any other cat would call you a traitor to your birth Clan."

"I don't care," she hissed, her light green eyes rampaging around the landscape above our heads, not once looking at either of us. "I've had enough of them."

"They can't be as bad as you think," Sunpaw meowed reasonably. "ThunderClan always seems to be doing the good in the Clans, really. And _you're_ the first cat who I've heard speak out about cats like Leafpool, and Brambleclaw…"

"That's because I'm the only one who perceives what they really are! I mean, look at Leafpool: she acts like she's never done anything wrong in her entire life, and she thinks she can help everyone and that she's the best at it and everyone loves her 'cause she's so nice…but she's not _deep_. She's as shallow as the stream is now. She doesn't hate, she doesn't be rude, and she has nothing other than…sweetness, and…cuteness." Crystalpaw enunciated the last two adjectives with particular disgust. "She has her faults—which she hides very well—but no one else sees them."

There was a pause as Sunpaw and I digested this. I looked up at her face, and noticed that wild glint in her leaf-colored eyes that always appeared when she was talking so passionately about something. Still, I found it hard to side with her.

"Maybe you're right." Sunpaw saved us. "Hunting, anyone?"

Crystalpaw sighed angrily. "Fine. I want to explore a bit." She tossed her head as she turned around and started padding up the streambed, away from Flickerpaw's cavern, opposite the direction from which we'd came from the Clans. I weighed the irony of this simple moment in my head—three of us, each different, united in our newfound sympathy for Flickerpaw.

I followed behind Crystalpaw and Sunpaw as they silently fought for the lead, each swerving around the other at random intervals to be first. We never once got too far away from the dry stream: it was a constant, sure thing that we could always depend on to lead us to shelter, whether it be back to the Moonpool or just to the cavern. Somewhere inside we all were still a little afraid of the golden woods.

After a while of passing by swath after swath of flowers and branches and slender trees, Crystalpaw spoke up. "Isn't this kind of pointless? There's no prey here, unless you want to eat undead leaves." She dug her forepaw into the soil and tossed up several glimmering ones into the air, where they whirled around for a heartbeat and landed softly a few tail-lengths away.

"_You_ can," Sunpaw snorted.

"You _look_ like you do," retorted Crystalpaw, poking his yellow pelt with her tail-tip. "Seriously, how do you hunt? Don't the mice and squirrels see you coming from, like, a hundred fox-lengths away?"

"In RiverClan," he answered tersely, "we hunt _fish_. They don't think to look up from the river bottom that often, you know with that annoying little current and all? And the meadows are good camouflage."

"What about _you_?" I asked the ThunderClan she-cat. "You must stand out in your forest."

Crystalpaw looked down. "Yeah," she admitted. "But I do fine. I stick to the shadows. I don't really like catching birds that much 'cause I can't fool them too easily."

"Mm-hmm," I hummed in understanding. "You know, we forgot to ask Flickerpaw about that black bird we saw."

"We'll ask him later," Crystalpaw meowed. "Come on. I can see the regular forest on the right. Let's bring back something for Moonpaw and Icepath."

We broke away from the winding path of pebbles and feathery, water-beaten soil to head for the edge of the golden trees. I could see hard frost glinting on the brittle grass and browned leaves. I felt slightly wary at leaving the dry stream behind, but realized that as long as I could see Flickerpaw's woods, we'd be fine.

I teetered on the edge of the immortal grass for a few moments before taking the step into the frosted forest. A fresh, sharp slap of cold air sunk down straight through my skin, chilling me deeply after the comfort of the golden woods.

"Great StarClan," growled Sunpaw in annoyance, slinking back over the invisible border. "It's _so cold_."

"You've been in Flickerpaw's woods for what, a day and a half?" Crystalpaw scoffed, fluffing out her snow-white fur against the chill. "This season is called leaf-bare. It is generally supposed to be cold."

"I was born in greenleaf," Sunpaw meowed back reproachfully. "I'm staying here, between the two. It's warmer. There's gotta be some stupid mice who've found the warmth."

"Fine," Crystalpaw replied lightly. "Eaglepaw and I will bring back the prey and you can chase your daffodil-colored tail in the sunshine. See you."

I snorted with laughter. Sunpaw rolled his eyes dramatically before stalking away.

When he disappeared from sight a few moments later, Crystalpaw meowed, "D'you think it's safe to leave him on his own?" There was a spark of humor in her voice. I suddenly found that I wanted to reply with something witty, but nothing came to mind.

"Um…no. Definitely not." I grinned.

She gave a dramatic, mock-sigh before bounding back to the border between gold and brown. "Sunpaw!" she shouted.

His head appeared between long tendrils of fern. "Can't even survive a couple seconds without me?" he asked.

"I think it's the other way around," Crystalpaw replied. "We should stick together."

Sunpaw shrugged. "All right. But I'm _not_ going into the freezing forest. I'm staying right here. What's the use of having a magical woods if you're not gonna take advantage of it?"

"You make it sound like some random, pretty place," Crystalpaw snapped. "You heard Flickerpaw's story. This is his prison. It's not as simple as somewhere you can hide from the cold."

He didn't answer. Instead, he shot forward in a tumble of yellow fur and flashing claws. There was a loud, sharp chatter of alarm before a brief garble as Sunpaw dispatched the gray squirrel, breaking its neck. Immediately a raucously angry babble of chattering broke out from the treetops: three more squirrels leaped through the branches.

"Hey!" Sunpaw shouted after them, "Squirrel is to cat as acorn is to squirrel! Hate to break it to you, but that's how the world works."

"Lovely," Crystalpaw meowed tersely.

Sunpaw nudged the dead squirrel and stared at her. "What? Did you want me to ask its permission first?"

"No," she grumbled. "Never mind."

"What's your problem?" He spoke not unkindly, but curiously.

"It's nothing, Sunpaw."

"Hang on, hang on." I stepped forward between the two. "Crystalpaw?"

She exhaled quietly, moving her head back and forth and down in sloppy circles to show her indecision. Glancing up at me again, she muttered, "It's that phrase. 'That's how the world works.'"

"Yeah?"

She sighed again, sharp and agitated. "It was—it's just—my mother was a rogue, right?"

"Yeah, you told us that before," Sunpaw meowed.

Crystalpaw looked up at the iced branches of the chillier woods. "Her name was Crescent. She was a black and white tabby, her fur all splotched and mottled—my father described it like snow with shadows. She kind of hung around in ThunderClan's territory for a while, moving around so the warriors never found her, usually coming to this little sand spit on the lake to sleep. And, they eventually found her there, and kicked her out. But, you know, she was kind of rebellious and liked to do stuff that was right on the edge of getting in trouble, I guess—"

"Like you," interrupted Sunpaw.

"Whatever," she replied, though a grin twitched on her mouth. "Anyway, she moved into the woods just beyond the ShadowClan and ThunderClan border, on our side. Close to the place where the Twolegs come in greenleaf to stay in cloth nests. All the warriors hated it, but they couldn't exactly drive her off, since it wasn't their territory to claim rights to. But my father, his name was Flareheart, was always visiting her. He liked her, you see. She liked him, too. They had similar personalities. She a bit more acidic and annoying, but she ended up having his kits. 

Me and a brother, but he was stillborn. So my mother tells my father to take me back to his Clan so I'd get a proper upbringing, but he wants her to go with him, too. She goes with him, and they present themselves to ThunderClan, who didn't know about Flareheart being the mate of Crescent. But all the warriors didn't like her, and they refused to accept her as a Clan member, saying she was too wild and too much of a rogue."

Sunpaw snorted. "Hmm. That's interesting. I thought ThunderClan were regular kittypet collectors."

"They still are," Crystalpaw affirmed darkly, "but look at their past recruits—Millie, a kittypet who can speak dog, very kind and very soft. Daisy, a barn cat who can't even fight but can sure churn out kits after kits. And then the latest one, Primrose, is all pretty fur and big eyes. If Featherwing weren't already Leafpool's apprentice, she'd be. Imagine that! A kittypet without even a warrior's name as a Clan medicine cat."

"You're gonna start ranting again," Sunpaw meowed in a drawl, and I nodded furtively.

"No I'm not. So Crescent had too much fire and charisma to be accepted into ThunderClan, so she left in the dead of night all alone, leaving me with another queen's newborn litter and a white blossom on Flareheart's nest." Crystalpaw gave a light, bitter laugh. "Poetic, isn't it?"

"The stuff of legends," I proclaimed in good humor. "Reminds me of the stories you hear as kits—one mate leaves the other something little to remember them by." The white she-cat gave me a weak sort of smile, and I continued, "What happened to your mother? To Crescent?"

"She didn't disappear forever," responded Crystalpaw. "I saw her again a few times in my life. She went deeper into the wild woods and then she just kind of hung around for a while until she moved on. I haven't seen her since I was six moons old."

"But wait a second," I put in. "What about that thing Sunpaw said? How does that tie in?"

Crystalpaw snorted and shook her head at the memory. Unconsciously, we all started wandering once more along the streambed, back into the softly shimmering forest. "When I was old enough to understand all of this, around the time I was apprenticed, I went straight up to Firestar, Brambleclaw, and Graystripe and asked them why they turned my mother away. They told me that she'd've never truly accepted Clan customs and would've been more of a problem than an asset to the Clan. So I said, 'What about her kit? Me? She had me and you still turned her away.' And they told me the same things again, but this time they added 'That's just how the world works, Crystalpaw.' And that's all I ever heard them say about Crescent from that point on. 'It's just how the world works. Some cats are different than others.'"

There was a long pause as the three of us just kept padding along the edge of the stream's pathway. Crystalpaw watched her paws push past the grass and little flowers, and I felt a flutter of something like fright in the pit of my stomach as she looked up to see me watching her. I immediately turned away, acting as if I'd been surveying the premises, feeling a little cold inside like I'd just stepped over the border between the light and dark woods. A twisting sense of mild shock was there too, but I didn't know why.

Crystalpaw was an unusual and outspoken she-cat, and I had known her for several days. I was conflicted, introspective, and solitary by nature. Anyway, she was a ThunderClan apprentice and had all those irritating rants about her Clanmates—

"Great StarClan, what is _that_?"

My head shot up at once. We were in an unfamiliar grove surrounded on all sides by the golden woods, and two great boulders rested on the rough earth, covered in sprawling vines. Creepers and elegantly slender flowers lazily dripped down the mottled rock face like jeweled raindrops fixed to the vines. The streambed ran between the boulders.

But in the _v_-shape between the two rocks was an enormous barrier of stacked stones that cut the stream in half. No water could pass through to feed the stream.

"How could something like this happen?" cried Sunpaw, sprinting forward and scrambling up the smaller rocks that formed the dam. "These weren't always here, or else there'd be no Moonpool at all, ever, in the first place."

Crystalpaw grunted in surprise. "Maybe there was a landslide, or big storm, or…something…" Crystalpaw trailed off. There were no signs of destruction. Only one possible explanation remained.

Flickerpaw with his immortal strength had built a barrier to rob the Clans of the Moonpool.

* * *

**A/N 2:** I'm going away for two weeks starting Friday, but I'll probably squeeze in another update before then.


	10. Chapter 8: Challenging Defenses

**A/N: Well, I've had a nice long break from vacation in Newfoundland, where there is NO INTERNET access like anywhere. This chapter has a lot of dialogue—and I'm happy to say that from here on out, there is going to be loads of action. I've got lots of lovely little twists planned for you all. Eventually I will fully explain in detail the history of Silverpool and Tigerflame, and I'm considering making my next **_**Warriors**_** FanFic a prequel to this story that focuses on Tigerflame's mountain adventure in the time of the sickness. Maybe I'll even write about Silverpool after that. Also, if anyone feels like checking it out, I've updated the Allegiances with some characters from the other Clans. Nothing big, but you might meet some of those listed in the future…**

**-x-Riverstar-x-: **Thanks so much. :)

**Allan Pike:** Thank you again!

**Nightclaw:** I've got nine more chapters planned out for this story, which will include an epilogue that I've already written.

**StarClan's Nightmare:** Great penname, by the way. I've always been a fan for detail: I edit a friend of mine's story and all she ever hears from me was "ADD MORE DETAIL!" I like writing poems as well as stories, so I love inventing new metaphors and experimenting with description. Flickerpaw and Crystalpaw have tidbits of my personality in them—actually, most of the main characters in TFWU do—and I hate ThunderClan, so they do too. Ha ha.

**Painted Inkblot:** Flickerpaw's taken a bit of a leave of absence from this chapter…but he's back in the next one. I can totally imagine ThunderClan sucking in kittypet after kittypet, which I predict will happen in later books, so I stuck that detail in there. Thanks so much!

**11:21:** Wow, thanks!

**Mo0ngazer:** Thank you very much. I get a lot of inspiration from the banters between me and my little sister. :P

**Leafwing:** Glad to hear you like it! Thanks!

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 8: Challenging Defenses**

"Flickerpaw?" Crystalpaw asked, her voice carrying a slightly stunned tone. "How would he do it…?" She trailed off as the question answered itself in her mind.

"It makes perfect sense," growled Sunpaw. His amber eyes had narrowed into slits. He clambered back down to where Crystalpaw and I stood silently at the base of the rock wall. "His wonderful Fire's given him everything he needs to get at the Clans from within. Strike from here in the safety of his forest while the Clans blunder helplessly back by the lake. It's brilliant, really."

Now that Sunpaw had come down, Crystalpaw jumped up to follow the same path he'd taken to the top of the dam between the two boulders. Very carefully, she eased herself around the topmost silver-gray stones, the lichens on them outlined in a faint shine, every blemish softly winking in the sun's light like tiny stars.

"Where're you going?" I called.

"To the back!" she shouted from the other side. There was a clattering of rocks and a soft thump as Crystalpaw returned to the ground. "Come here."

Sunpaw glanced at me before weaving through the bracken and foxglove tangles around the two great boulders and the dam of smaller rocks. I bounded after him quickly and saw Crystalpaw peering down from a low stone. "The stream comes from an underground spring," she observed. "And he's blocked that with a rock, too."

"Of course," I sighed. "He's smart." I waved my tail in a loose ellipse to indicate the clearing in which we stood. "If he walked out of the bushes right now saying he'd been watching us all along, I wouldn't be surprised."

Sunpaw shook his head in frustration. I could almost feel his temper flaring. A snarl curling on his mouth, he crossed the distance between him and the rock that stood snugly over what must have been the opening to the underground spring. A puddle of dully flashing water had dampened the ground in a wide circle around the rock; a bullfrog croaked and splashed away into the grass as Sunpaw shuffled around on the wet earth.

His claws were out a moment later and he plunged them into the loose, diluted soil. "If we can dig it out," he hissed through clenched teeth, throwing up pawfulls of dirt, "we won't need to get rid of his dam! See how he reacts to that."

Crystalpaw shrieked laughingly as a clump of soggy dirt sailed past her ears. For a few heartbeats a burst of bright triumph filled my head and chest like sunshine through thunderheads, but then it fell away. "He'll just block it up again," I realized out loud.

Sunpaw kept on enthusiastically digging for a few moments, but then he stopped very abruptly, his ears twitching. His head twisted around so he could look over his shoulder at me. In a dejected voice, he meowed, "Couldn't you have been an optimist?" He cracked a sort of half-smile (in other words, one of his frequent unreadable expressions) and withdrew his muddy paws before lashing out at the grass around him, ripping it with his claws in frustration. "I hate all this immortality stuff. I mean, first we've got Eaglepaw's dreams, then there's Flickerpaw's Fire and magic forest, not to mention that stupid bird that supposedly almost caused the death of me."

"I want to know what the bird is most," Crystalpaw piped up, speaking for the first time in a little while—an unusual feat for her, I noted. "Eaglepaw's dream was something StarClan did, the Fire's been more or less explained, but the bird…?"

"I don't think Flickerpaw'll be too eager to tell us anything once we break the news to him that we've discovered all this," I put in gloomily.

"Shouldn't he have expected it, though?" Sunpaw asked. "He's smart and knows we're not a bunch of blundering flies."

Crystalpaw tilted her head back to survey the dome of the sky, fringed with the bright plumes of the treetops. The sun was getting very low on the horizon, creating a dull pink glimmer in the far west. "We should get back," she proposed softly. "Icepath and Moonpaw need to know."

"Know _what_?" Sunpaw snarled. "That there's even less hope than before now?" With another angry bout of grunts and hisses, he scraped more muddy ground aside.

"Stop it, you dim-witted, sarcastic, annoying, griping, whiny-as-a-kit _mouse-brain_," Crystalpaw snapped savagely, jumping down onto the ground and flicking her tail several times against his dirt-sprinkled flank. "We're leaving now before you throw a temper tantrum."

"Speaking of _temper tantrums_," Sunpaw meowed, rather incredulously, "_what_ is digging into your pelt?"

She shrugged, a wild grin scrawled across her face. "I've been meaning to drop that one on somebody sometime," she explained lightly. "It was originally meant for one of my fellow apprentices. Flashpaw. You may've met him once…he has a white and ginger tabby pelt? Once about a moon ago I was out exploring with him—"

Sunpaw and I both immediately started walking as fast as we could.

* * *

The uneventful sunset passed by like a tall wave on the lake—it drew nearer and nearer, the sun falling fast and earlier than usual because of the approaching cold season, but all it amounted to was a brief burst of color before dissolving into the sandy shore of the horizon. While the golden forest grew more shadowy and the sun's last rays receded, we relayed the information to Icepath and Moonpaw outside the cavern entrance. Flickerpaw was off somewhere else.

"But do we confront him about it?" I kept on asking.

"If we keep it a secret, we keep an advantage," Moonpaw told me sensibly.

"How do we know he isn't listening in the undergrowth a fox-length away?" I retorted.

"Because he'd waltz out, make a cleverly mysterious remark, and then go hide behind his Fire all night long," answered Sunpaw, not all that inaccurately.

With a quick glance around, Crystalpaw added, "It still could happen, Sunpaw."

"You tried digging?" Icepath asked.

"Yes." Sunpaw twirled a blade of grass around one extended claw. "He'll just find it and block it up again."

"Persuasion's the only answer," Moonpaw meowed. "Persuade him to unblock it."

Crystalpaw snorted. "Trying to persuade _him_ to do something that's potentially helpful to ThunderClan is like taste-testing deathberries with your friends. Nothing good ever comes out of it, and you're usually left worse off than before."

I chuckled appreciatively.

Sunpaw looked up from the grass. "What about…_forcing _him to do it?"

"What, get rid of the rocks?" inquired Icepath. "How can you force a cat who's both stronger and considerably smarter than you to get what you want?"

The golden-furred tom looked around rather guiltily, which surprised me deeply. Sunpaw rarely, if ever, looked guilty about the misdemeanors he plotted and carried out. "You bribe him," he said. "Find out what he wants. What he likes. What he depends on."

Quiet met this proposal. Sounds around here were minute, miniscule. All other creatures were frightened of the forest of Fire like they were frightened of the Twolegs and their nests, and even the small buzzes of insects was rare. I thought I could even hear the Fire flickering in the gloom of the cavern below us.

Icepath looked mildly shocked. She was a young warrior, only about six moons older than me and Moonpaw and Sunpaw, which was what I liked—she was more sympathetic and easier to persuade than older warriors because her memories of apprenticeship were much closer. It also meant her skills were sharp and she wouldn't back away from a fight. She'd be an invaluable ally in any battle. _But that won't happen here, right?_

Seeing that no one else was going to say anything, I meowed slowly, "But what does he have that we could take away from him?"

* * *

In the morning Icepath took the four of us out for fighting practice.

"You can't stop to think about your next move!" she shouted from the side. She stalked back and forth as she talked, shadowing her learners, her blue-tinted eyes darting expertly from one body to the other.

Crystalpaw was breathing heavily as she faced off with Sunpaw. The white apprentice spun around, ran a few fox-lengths away from Sunpaw, who advanced on her, before she leaped up into the air and sailed over his head, knocking him over by slamming her paws against his neck. He toppled to the ground with her above him, but he kicked furiously with his back legs and threw her off. Crystalpaw frantically clawed at the ground, tossing up pawfulls of dirt and grass. Sunpaw made a dive for her, and she responded swiftly by flicking a lump of earth right into his face. It connected with the left side just below the ear, making him howl in surprise and pain as his paw flew to his eye.

"Oooh!" I howled dramatically, and Moonpaw fluffed out her silver-gray fur and grinned enormously.

Triumphant, the ThunderClan apprentice padded deliberately over to Sunpaw, practically swimming in swagger as she stepped over him and mimed biting his neck.

"Nice!" Icepath meowed, a smile tugging at her mouth. "You okay, Sunpaw?"

"Yeah," he muttered gruffly, shoving Crystalpaw off of him with the paw that wasn't pressed to his face. "I'm totally fine, just blinded in one eye by this…this…." He gestured towards Crystalpaw with his tail. "Blundering monster."

"You're just jealous," replied Crystalpaw airily.

Sunpaw rubbed at his face to get the dirt off. "That was actually pretty awesome," he admitted. "Good for a tight spot. You've got a problem if you're fighting on rocks, though."

Icepath gave a short, light laugh. "Now you two get on the sidelines"—she indicated Sunpaw and Crystalpaw—"and Moonpaw can have a go at Eaglepaw."

I gave a mock groan. "That sounds vaguely threatening, Icepath."

"Frightened?" asked Moonpaw.

"_No_," I replied, taking my place opposite her, two fox-lengths apart.

"Less arguing, more fighting," instructed Icepath. "Let me see what you've got." Her eyes shone with mischief. I knew she'd never been a mentor before, but she was enjoying herself greatly and assuming the role with all the experience of a cat like Tigerflame or Reedwhisker.

Moonpaw stayed stock-still, the dull gray glint of her claws sliding into focus as she unsheathed them. They stood out against the frosted grass, which shone white and emerald in the bright sunlight. The chilly winds that disrupted even the golden forest's climate warned us all of approaching snowfalls.

After a few moments, I leaped to the left and let out a menacing hiss. I stalked around her in a half-circle before lunging for her paws. With a yowl, she leaped over me and attacked my back. As I swiveled around, she reared onto her hind legs and I almost fell over backwards trying to get away. Her front paws met the ground again. In the split second I jumped at her, connecting with her flank and forcing her to roll over onto her back while I remained above her. She screeched and flailed underneath me and smacked at my neck with her pads. I fell to the ground and scrambled to my paws as Moonpaw advanced again. Twisting, I aimed a blow at her head which she parried with her paws, and this time I felt the tips of her claws score my skin.

While I paused to assess the situation, the silver she-cat streaked behind me and was suddenly clinging to my shoulders, forcing me to the ground on my back as I had forced her down moments ago. Before she could finish me off, I bunched up my hind legs and struck out at her belly, hard, flinging her away from me forcefully. She lay stunned in the grass for a few heartbeats before rising again, but before she was back in action I raced away from her and scaled the side of the clearing, where the ground rose up a few tail-lengths higher than the rest of the small training area.

I had the higher ground now. It was over for Moonpaw. Elation surged inside me as I watched her swiftly step over to where I was, hovering a few fox-lengths away, evaluating her chances. Wavering for no longer than a heartbeat, she sprinted to the right to attack me in a curved path, but I jumped and sailed over her with a yowl and smashed into her as I came down, tangling us both together as we rolled down the slope. I got a grip on her front leg and snapped at her neck as she panted heavily, demonstrating the death bite in the air beside her.

"Nice job, Eaglepaw!" cried Icepath. Moonpaw went limp as I stepped away from her triumphantly, but she looked up after and gave me a small grin.

"I'll have to remember to give my opponent a wider berth next time," she meowed. She pulled herself to her paws. "Good fight, Eaglepaw." I gave her a quick nod.

"Spectacular!" Sunpaw sidled over to me and bumped his shoulder against mine. "Never thought I'd see our wonderful sister beaten in a fight."

She rolled her eyes at him. "How many fights have you won again, Sunpaw?"

"I beat Birdpaw in a scuffle back in RiverClan a while ago," he insisted, "and she's older than me!"

Icepath eventually silenced them after a few more clever comments of friendly rivalry were made and demonstrated several more moves on Crystalpaw. She let us go after a while, and we immediately made our way to the rock dam where we could lie in the shallow puddles formed around the stone that blocked the underground spring.

"That was intense," muttered Sunpaw. He sat up and rolled onto his back, bits of grass and dirt clinging to his damp fur. Above us, the sun was beginning to descend from its high midday point.

Crystalpaw hummed in agreement. "That one move there that Icepath showed us at the end?" she meowed. "Where she did this attack thing where she got high up above me, jumped, and spiraled down so I would've been smashed in the face by her back paws then attacked by her front ones? That was amazing."

"They teach you anything good in ThunderClan?" Moonpaw meowed to her.

Crystalpaw brightened up right away. "Let's see…how to interfere in other Clans' business, how to worship the warrior code, how to be biased…"

Sunpaw and I both groaned loudly together. "Never ask her about ThunderClan, Moonpaw!" ordered Sunpaw. Moonpaw just laughed.

"…how to be perfect in every way, how to cure the will to live…"

"Shut up!" shouted Sunpaw, moving to whack the white apprentice with his paw and missing due to his increasingly hysterical laughing. It was infectious—soon I was having trouble breathing as I choked on my own laughter.

"It wasn't even that funny," snorted Moonpaw after a few minutes.

"Yes it was," I mumbled against the ground, still grinning like an idiot.

"I think this forest's finally gotten to us," the silver she-cat meowed, her whiskers continuing to twitch. "Like a rabbit in a trap. Sooner or later it goes insane."

Her simile unsettled me slightly. We weren't really trapped here…but what would Flickerpaw do if we tried to leave? His reluctance to trust and his solitary nature might drive him to keep us here, prevent anyone else from finding him.

We lay there quietly, just breathing for a little while, watching the sun reflect off of the leaves and the grass and the flowers.

"What you said earlier," Moonpaw meowed to Crystalpaw, "back when you were talking about ThunderClan…the warrior code's a good thing to live by. I agree that it shouldn't be adhered to if breaking it is the _right_ thing, but it's the only anchor we have against war and battles and needless bloodshed."

"I guess so," answered Crystalpaw in a low voice. She was lying across from me, between Sunpaw and Moonpaw, and I could see her light green eyes lingering on the gold-washed sky. After a long pause, she continued, "I like it here. I mean I like living like this, I guess. Hunting when you want, where you want, without any cats who want to control you. You can live how you like. I've learned what's good and what's wrong from my friends and my father and even my mentor…and now I can develop by myself. Without anyone trying to bend me into their own ideals."

"Well said," I mewed. "As usual."

"I don't get how ThunderClan can affect you that much," Sunpaw put in. "I like all the RiverClan warriors, my mentor's great, I can make anyone look like an idiot and they'll still laugh."

"You got that right," I affirmed in amusement.

Crystalpaw rolled over to face the golden tom. "Didn't you once do something to Snakepaw of Wind—?" Her voice stopped very suddenly, and she was on her paws in a flash of white, her fur bristling.

"What is it?" I pulled myself up too, and Moonpaw crossed over to stand next to Crystalpaw.

"There," the white she-cat breathed. Slowly, she pointed with her tail up towards the high branches of a tree. Blinking back at us with those bright, jewel-like eyes, was the black bird. It tilted its head to one side, gave a short _caw_ like that of a crow, then was airborne in a flurry of wings.

"Run! Get it!" shouted Sunpaw, lunging into the forest after it. Without any time to think, I barreled after him, bumping against Moonpaw as she scrambled in pursuit. The four of us crashed through the bracken and flowering shrubs, wove around trees, and leaped over stones in our path as Sunpaw blindly sprinted after the bird, which dove through the canopy with speed and grace. As we ran, I saw the flashing dark greens and browns of the mortal forest appearing through the gold-tinted foliage and soft sparkles of the undergrowth. We passed the border in seconds, and a blast of freezing air stunned us all for heartbeats. Clouds of our breath rose up like smoke.

"Where'd it go?" demanded Crystalpaw, looking all around her wildly. I looked down at my paws, shivering a little, and noticed there was a fine layer of snow on the dead grass. Raising my gaze to the treetops, I saw that the dark-winged bird had indeed vanished.

"Fox dung!" snarled Sunpaw. "I'm gonna pin it down and then drop a tree branch on _its_ head, see how it likes it."

"Don't be stupid, Sunpaw," Moonpaw said exasperatedly. "The falling branch was probably an accident."

"It was attempted murder!" insisted Sunpaw. It seemed rather comical to me, which I guessed was the appearance he was looking for.

"Shhh!" hissed Crystalpaw. We all looked over at her, and she held up one paw, her ears twitching as she listened intently. Then there it was—another caw, like the one the bird had made earlier. Silently, the white she-cat crouched low to the ground and started to stalk through the tangle of dead plants and snow in the direction of the bird's noises. They were frequent and rapid now.

Moments later, Crystalpaw froze. She swept her tail at us, and we lined up beside her, peering through the trees.

The black bird was perched on a tree's thick root that stuck out in a rough arc above the ground. It shifted restlessly, its claws and feathers leaving little lines in the soft snow, and cawed incessantly. But that wasn't the most interesting sight—far more interesting was the feline body that crouched next to the bird, his or her back to where the four of us stood in the shadows, making low, croaking noises in its throat. It was communicating with the bird.

"StarClan," breathed Moonpaw. "Look at that."

"So, what?" whispered Sunpaw. "The bird…it's like a _spy_?"

I still watched the cat. His or her fur was tortoiseshell—brown, black, and white mottled—and was snarled around twigs and burrs and bits of hardened frost. Taut muscles built up by struggle and hardship were visible from here, and the cat moved in a quick, twitchy manner, as though it nervously expected an enemy to explode out of the trees.

"Who is it?" I muttered.

"Rogue. Loner." Moonpaw assumed.

"If the bird _has_ been spying on us," Sunpaw meowed quietly, "what's this cat's motivation?"

I kept my gaze fixed on the bird now. It and the cat continued to exchange words for a few minutes, then suddenly its fire-and-ice eyes slid onto me. I felt a sudden cold plunge inside me as my stomach flipped over. "Oh, no," I snarled, and floundered in the snow, knocking against a stiff clump of dead bracken, which rattled loudly in the leaf-bare quiet.

The cat whirled around, feathery snow flying everywhere. "Who's there?" it shouted: it was a she-cat. Her eyes were dark amber.

Crystalpaw, Moonpaw, and Sunpaw all looked wildly at each other. We all remained still.

The she-cat sighed angrily. "Get out of the bloody bushes," she snarled. "I know you're there. I'm not going to eat you."

Moonpaw was the first one to step forward. The rest of us followed habitually—if Moonpaw thought it was all right, it was all right. The she-cat surveyed us with interest as we stood wordlessly before her.

"You're quite the motley crew, aren't you?" she meowed, her tone suggesting that she was enjoying herself. "What're you all doing here all alone?"

"You seem to be more alone than us," retorted Sunpaw. Moonpaw shot him a warning glance that plainly conveyed _nice-going-smart-one-she's-probably-got-an-army-behind-her-in-the-woods_.

Instead, the she-cat laughed. "Seems you're right," she replied. Her eyes flicking around at all of us, she asked, "What're your names?"

"How can you talk to that bird?" Crystalpaw inquired immediately. The she-cat's eyes slowly traveled to the white apprentice and her expression shifted to one of light skepticism.

"I open my mouth," the rogue answered, "and talk to it."

Sunpaw's claws were out in a second. "Tell us why you've been sending that monster to watch us," he demanded coldly. "That thing nearly had me killed. Made a tree branch snap and almost fall on top of me."

"Did he?" The she-cat looked over her shoulder at the bird, which twittered almost innocently. Turning back to us, she said, "I've been watching you with him ever since you came within a mile of the Shining Forest."

I didn't bother to ask her what a _mile_ was. Her meaning was clear enough. "Why?" I meowed.

She watched me unblinkingly. "I'm alone," she told me slowly. "And I wanted to see if you knew what the Forest was."

"Well, we don't know anything," Sunpaw growled.

Moonpaw's tail swished back and forth. "But that might change," she added slyly, eyeing the rogue, "if you tell us the truth. Who are you? Why are you here? Why is that bird your spy?"

The tortoiseshell shrugged. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"Neither do we," my sister replied smoothly.

The rogue's eyes traveled behind us to where the trees of the golden woods could still be seen, glimmering faintly through the iced trees. "Many have seen the Shining Forest," she mewed, "and few have ever ventured deep within it. Some raving idiot once told me it was where the evil spirits convened and used the enticing glow to lure other animals into their dark realm. Another said it was a place sacred to every spirit of everything deceased. What do I think?" Here she paused and chuckled. "I think it's just some bloody anomaly in nature. There are plenty out there."

There was a flutter of feathers and the bird was beside her. It cawed something short and soft to the rogue, and she said something back. It was fascinating—the rough, guttural language of the bird and the cat.

"How do you do that?" asked Crystalpaw, nodding to the bird.

"I learned to speak crow from a friend of mine," she answered. "Very hard to speak. Harder to understand. His name roughly translates to _Bird With Eye Of Fire Wind._" She looked at him fondly. "I just call him Windy."

"He does have very beautiful eyes," mused Moonpaw, taking a careful step forward, peering closer at the bird, Windy.

The tortoiseshell still watched us. "So," she meowed, "I told you something. Now you tell me something. What are your names?"

After a pause, Moonpaw replied, "I'm Moonpaw. These are my brothers and my friend."

"Eaglepaw," I said next.

Crystalpaw gave her name, then Sunpaw, after hostile hesitation, meowed, "Sunpaw."

"Ah," meowed the rogue. "You're from those lake cats. Those Clans."

"Yeah," confirmed Crystalpaw, "and now it's our turn to ask a question. What's your name?"

The tortoiseshell's gaze slid carefully onto the white ThunderClan apprentice. They stared at each other unfalteringly for a few heartbeats before the rogue spoke.

"I've gone by many names in my life," the she-cat responded. Her voice carried a hint of mystery, shadows, and sharpness. "I was once Fog. River-dancer. Cloud Over Mountains. Snowdrop. Helena. Heart of Lightning. Crescent. Diamond—"

"Crescent?" Crystalpaw whispered harshly. "Your name is Crescent?"

The rogue shrugged amiably. "Not my first name, not my last, but one of my many. I actually never used that one very often—"

Crystalpaw cut her off. "Does the name _Flareheart_ mean anything to you?"

The she-cat's head snapped forward and her amber eyes bulged at Crystalpaw. "How the hell do you know that?"

Crystalpaw surveyed the rogue appraisingly. "I thought you were a black and white cat," she meowed airily, "not a tortoiseshell."

"I am black and white," the rogue snarled gruffly. "The brown's just mud. Who are you?"

"Do you honestly not remember?"

"Maybe if you explained—!" The change in expression on the rogue's face was like dawn through a blizzard. "You're Crystalkit. Crystal_paw_."

The onset of a smile twisted around the white she-cat's face. "So," she meowed. "Which name do you prefer to be called by?"

* * *

**A/N:** The next chapter is titled _Wind Song_!


	11. Chapter 9: Wind Song

**A/N: School starts for me on September 3****rd**** (First year of high school! Gulp!), but I'm pretty sure I can keep up with this story, since I have a lot of the second half already written. I keep promising more action, less talking, and there is some in this chapter, but the real turning point will come in Chapter 11, when some old friends are gonna show up…**

**StarClan's Nightmares:** Thank you! I really love Crescent too…and I love crows/ravens/large black birds, so that's how the duo was born.

**Nightclaw:** Thanks; my favorite part of writing is the dialogue, and I'm glad you liked that bit. :)

**Inakura:** Yes, indeed they do. Keep reading and you'll see…

**Painted Inkblot:** All will be revealed, all will be revealed. :) Eventually…. Yes, I have a lot of ideas in my head and then after I type a new chapter I'll realize 'Wait, nothing's happening but them talking!' I sound like and feel like a broken record, but there's a lot to come.

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 9: Wind Song**

"Hold on a minute," growled Sunpaw. "You mean _she's_ your mother?" He indicated the rogue with a flick of his ears.

"I guess so," murmured Crystalpaw. Her gaze raked all over the mud-stained she-cat. I looked between the two of them, comparing them. They didn't seem too similar, save for the white in both their pelts.

"So," Moonpaw meowed, her tone uncomfortable, "like Crystalpaw said…what should we call you?"

The black and white she-cat shrugged. "I haven't gone by Crescent in a long time, but you can call me that. My birth name was Helena."

"Sounds like a kittypet's name," Sunpaw muttered to me, though just barely loud enough for Crescent to hear him.

"Well that's how I was born," she cut in sharply, glaring at the golden-pelted tom. "My owner wasn't the smartest creature under the sun. It was easy to escape the Helena life."

"It's a nice name," Moonpaw defended her. "Better than _Millie_."

Crystalpaw grinned.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" I asked.

"Me? I'm a rogue, love," Crescent meowed. The bird chirped beside her, and she grunted something to it and it took flight, leaving behind several black feathers as it soared over the treetops and out of sight.

"What did you tell it?" Crystalpaw wanted to know.

"To go find some food for himself. He was hungry."

I heard Sunpaw give a very quiet snort of suspicion.

Moments of silence ticked by uncomfortably. I kept my attention divided between Crystalpaw and Crescent. Crystalpaw seemed tense, almost unsettled, and there was a definite accusatory aura about her. Her light green eyes were narrowed and harsh.

"Why did you leave us?" she meowed suddenly, and Crescent grimaced at the question, looking angry.

"Who? You and Flareheart?" the rogue snapped. "Well, I don't know how much your father told you—"

"He told me enough," Crystalpaw interrupted. "I know about the brother I might've had, how ThunderClan hated you because you wouldn't give up your wildness, how you put me in another queen's nest in the dead of night and didn't even say good-bye to your mate—how you _abandoned_ us."

Crescent's eyes smoldered. "What was I supposed to do?" she argued heatedly. "Wait around for them to gang up and attack me? Turn into a sweet-faced little kitty and proclaim my love for peace? Start an 'I Love Firestar' worship cult?"

"You could've taken us with you!" shouted Crystalpaw, furious now. I was shocked—this wasn't how I imagined her reaction. "You could've taken us back into the wild, where _none_ of us would have to deal with that!"

The black and white she-cat remained perfectly stationary, but her expression was wrathful. "You weren't even a moon old, Crystalpaw—"

"Rogues do it all the time! They raise kits right next to _Twoleg nests_, for StarClan's sake."

"All right then," Crescent countered in contempt. "Maybe I just wasn't meant to be a mother."

Crystalpaw seemed to freeze over for a moment, speechless. I heard the wind whistle through the trees and a rushing swoop of cold air ruffled our pelts. I wanted to get back to Flickerpaw's forest.

When Crystalpaw finally spoke, I expected her to continue the heated argument, but she surprised me again. "You're certainly right about that," she told Crescent coldly, then whirled around and sprinted away, back in the direction we came from; the only traces remaining were her scuffled pawprints in the shallow snow.

Moonpaw let out a worried sigh. "I'm going after her."

Sunpaw glanced at Crescent mistrustfully. "I'll come with you. You won't be able to hold her down by yourself." The two of them swiftly bounded away, leaving me alone with Crystalpaw's mother in the half-light of the afternoon woods.

Crescent took a deep breath. She seemed to shrink as she settled back into a sitting position. Slowly, the fire died from her eyes and they softened with disappointment.

"I used to dream about her," she murmured.

"What?" I said.

Crescent looked up at me, her expression a blend of resignation, hardness, and slight despair. "I dreamed about what she would become…what I had left behind. When I left them I ran for days and days. I stayed away from all other cats at any cost. When I scented them, I went in the other direction. I disguised my fur with mud and let it become tangled. When I stumbled upon others, I lied. I lied about who I was and where I came from. I've lost count of all the aliases I've used. I wandered alone in the great wild woods and talked to the crows."

"How did you meet Windy?" I asked.

"We haven't known each other for very long," she answered dully, "but now I can't get rid of him. His family thought his soul had been possessed by a demon spirit because his eyes are so oddly colored. No other thing in the whole bloody forest would go near him." She laughed lightly, fondly. "'Cept me, of course."

As if on cue, the black bird's caw resounded from above and Windy fluttered down to his perch on the protruding tree root. His bright, intelligent eyes watched me closely and chirped something to Crescent. She responded in a brief, croaking language I could find no rhythm or pattern to.

"What'd you say?"

"How 'bout I tell you," Crescent answered, getting up again and gesturing for the bird to follow, "if you take me to your little hideout in the Shining Forest?"

I considered this. How would Flickerpaw react to yet another outsider knowing his secret and invading his already crowded cavern?

_Well…she did abandon ThunderClan because she hated them. If he likes Crystalpaw, he'll love her mother._

"All right," I meowed back. "But promise me something."

Crescent sighed irritably and cocked her head.

"Reconcile with your daughter."

"Eaglepaw's your name? Eaglepaw, I may've hauled her around for moons and named her, but she's no more my daughter than Windy is."

"Exactly."

"Why do you care so much?" she shot back.

I floundered internally for a moment. "Because she's my friend."

Crescent was a lot taller than me, but she looked me right in the eyes as she came to stand face-to-face. Windy pattered over too, and I cringed at the smell of blood and carrion. "If you say so, then," Crescent meowed.

* * *

Icepath and Crescent took an instant liking to each other.

It started when we all had gathered together for the first time in Flickerpaw's cavern (Flickerpaw was gone, of course). Moonpaw and Sunpaw started arguing, and both she-cats growled, "Shut up!" at the same time. Instant camaraderie was born.

Crystalpaw avoided Crescent like a diseased animal. She got annoyed at Moonpaw, who she was normally very friendly to, when the silver apprentice helped Crescent built up a nest near the cavern entrance so Windy would be able to fly in and out easily. The black bird didn't like the Fire and flying without the sky above him. Crystalpaw shifted her nest across the cavern away from her mother to behind me and Sunpaw, where she could glower in the shadows without being anywhere near the rogue she-cat.

I went hunting later on with Moonpaw and Crystalpaw, and we ventured reluctantly back to the cold, leaf-bare forest that wasn't blessed with a sort of perpetual newleaf. We decided not to catch birds, as we weren't sure of what Windy might think. I relayed the story Crescent had told me about the unusual bird, and was astonished when Crystalpaw laughed along with my sister at the mention of demons possessing Windy's soul. It was a story from Crescent, after all. I'd expected her to sneer and frown over it. Sparks tingled in the pit of my stomach and at the base of my heart.

We returned with a trio of squirrels and a rabbit. As I dropped down into the shadowy cavern, I saw that Flickerpaw had returned. He was talking to Crescent. The rogue she-cat had cleaned some of the grime and twigs out of her fur now, and she looked more cheerful, more healthy. She shared a squirrel with Icepath and her portion of the fresh-kill was gone in what seemed like seconds. Flickerpaw watched us all unblinkingly from beside the Fire's basin.

"Why does he always do that?" grumbled Sunpaw. I shot a discreet glance at the brown-and-flame tom.

"I stare," meowed Flickerpaw, "because I stare." He glowered around at generally everything in his cavern before turning his back to us, fiddling with a thick piece of branch about a fox-length long. He'd dragged it in before Crystalpaw, Moonpaw, and I returned from hunting. I could hear his claws scratching on the sleek, bark-stripped wood.

As the sunset faded into evening, Sunpaw dozed off in his nest. Crystalpaw and Moonpaw retreated into a corner and chatted quietly while grooming each other's fur. Crescent slipped out of the cavern to go look for Windy. "Maybe we can get him to sleep by the opening," she told Icepath before leaving.

I helped the white warrior move some moss to the edge of the circle of pale light that filtered in through the hole. "How would a bird like him usually sleep?" Icepath wondered out loud. "In a tree? Or a nest? Crescent said that he likes the open sky more. Or we could move her nest over here by Windy's so he'd feel better…"

"Do you always worry this much, Icepath?" I asked her.

She looked at me mildly, half-lit by the watery moonlight, half-shadowed in the flickering darkness of the cavern. "No," she answered firmly. "I don't worry too much." She adjusted the moss a bit, caught me still watching her with a knowing expression on my face, then she sighed with a small smile. "Only when I have something to take care of," she amended softly.

"You don't have to worry about us," I told her. Her bluish eyes blinked a few times.

"Yeah, I do," she argued. "I'm the oldest one…from the Clans. If I bring any of you back with so much as a thorn in your paw, it's my fault."

"Mistystar'd understand."

"I hope so, but that's not really my point." Icepath exhaled deeply again, her whiskers twitching and her gaze lowering. Shyly, she added, "I _want_ to protect all of you. With my life, even. This…journey, or quest, or stupid excursion or whatever…it reminds me so much of all the great tales where bands of Clan cats joined together in the face of danger. Some of them always died or were lost or just left the others behind. Like the six cats that went to the sun-drown place. A RiverClan she-cat died, and her brother went to live with the Tribe. I don't want that to ever be part of our story, even if this quest never amounts to anything but exhaustion and foolishness and doing apprentice duties for moons after."

She looked back up at me again, and we watched each other for a few heartbeats. "I don't think that will happen here," I said finally. "Those cats were in the mountains, for StarClan's sake. We're in a forest filled with magical fairy trees, as Sunpaw so perfectly described it."

Icepath smiled, and her face lost all shadows of doubt.

* * *

After a heated debate between me, my sister, and Crystalpaw over the chances of RiverClan defeating ShadowClan (Crystalpaw was betting on ShadowClan winning), Icepath made us go to sleep. Crescent hadn't come back, but Moonpaw claimed that she's heard the black bird cawing outside the cavern once. She went on to explain how nervous birds became when they were trapped in unfamiliar, enclosed spaces, and would have continued all night if Icepath hadn't threatened her with all-day tracking practice tomorrow. I fell asleep after a while and dreamed something about birds and climbing up in trees before I was probed out of my slumber by an intrusive noise. I rolled over in my nest and saw Crystalpaw slinking quietly past me, heading for the cavern opening.

"Hey!" I hissed, and she jumped in fright before noticing me. "What're you doing?"

"I heard something weird," she meowed back, her light green eyes narrowed. "I'm going to investigate."

I scrambled to my paws, shaking the sleep from my mind. "What did you hear?"

"Flickerpaw left. I thought I heard another voice up above."

"You thought you heard another voice up above."

"Yep." She padded over to the cavern opening and prepared to leap up.

"Wait!" I followed her quickly. "I'll come."

"Why?"

"Because you need an ally if your mystery cat attacks us."

She watched me with a hard expression for a moment, then seemed to relent. "Fine. Don't make any noise."

"I won't."

The ThunderClan she-cat jumped up to the grass in the moonlight and I followed suit. I was amazed to see the waning crescent in the sky—tomorrow or the next night would be the new moon. Then the full moon would come, and there would be another Gathering.

"Which way did he go?" I asked her. "You know he doesn't leave any scent."

"I don't know. He just wandered off and I didn't really see much else." Crystalpaw scanned the woods around us. They were beautiful in the dark—everything was twisted with the pearly light of the thin moon. The slight glow that everything in Flickerpaw's woods held, nearly nonexistent in the daytime, was magnified tenfold in the darkness, making the entire place look like the forests of StarClan.

"It really is gorgeous, isn't it?" Crystalpaw meowed. "An entire forest frozen in a greenleaf more plentiful than any other…and to top it all off, filled with undying Fire."

I hummed in agreement. "Mmm-hmm."

Crystalpaw prodded a broken tree branch with her tail. "Too bad the prey's not that great here," she added. "I don't get why all the other animals are too scared to even come into this place—"

"Stop!" I hissed suddenly. I strained my ears. "I hear something."

"What?"

"Shhh!" I desperately tried to separate the normal night noises of the woods from anything unnatural. For a heartbeat I thought I'd heard…

_There it is!_

A faint voice on the breeze, light and beautiful, high and feminine. It wasn't Crescent's rough tone. I mentally flew back to when we had first come within sight of the golden woods—we'd heard a lilting voice like this one.

"Come on!" Crystalpaw dove through the ferns, heading upstream to where the the pebbly path would eventually run underground, where Flickerpaw had built his impenetrable dam. I sprinted through the woods with her. Branches still in full leaf and laden with the berries of late newleaf smacked my head and shoulders as I ran, but the beautiful voice became closer and more coherent. It was definitely feline…but there was that incredible _sound_ to it, the swift changes in tone, the rises and falls in pitch, the musical twists and twirls. Whoever this cat was, it had mastered the vernacular of birds and somehow translated it into cat.

We were very close now. I took in the surroundings: a grove of young birches with small leaves, a couple of flowering bushes, many brambles, a small boulder broken in two, and a tangle of shining goldenrod. There was no flash of movement in the long grass. There were no tell-tale sounds of a cat hidden in the shadows. There was only the voice, and it was singing.

"_Wind song, wind song,_

_bear us away on your weightless wings._

_Wind song, wind song,_

_tell us a tale of the darkest things._

_Sing to us of bloodshed_

_on midwinter's night;_

_Sing to us of darkness_

_without the sun's light._

_Wind song, wind song,_

_bear us away on your weightless wings…_"

Suddenly it was there: a spurt of silver in midair, like wind made visible, like breath in leaf-bare, like a ghost in the night. For a second I thought I saw amber eyes in the dark. I felt a tumult of fear fall upon me like an avalanche. My heart rate accelerated like it was being pursued by a horrible predator. _A ghost in the dark._

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Crystalpaw breathed.

"If you're seeing floating pairs of eyes," I answered shakily, "yep."

There it was again—a little shimmer in the air, another one here. To the less scrutinizing gaze they might be errant bits of moonlight, or even shadows of the leaves. It was both hypnotizing and terrifying. I could sense Crystalpaw's fear mingling with my own…yet neither of us pulled away.

"_Sing to us of black plague_

_and incurable scars;_

_Sing to us of dark days_

_and the death of the stars._

_Wind song, wind song…_"

With a flash of gray, the bodiless eyes appeared before us once more, no more than a tail-length from our hiding place, seeming to stare straight at the two of us crouched in the brush. Crystalpaw shrieked in surprise and terror, instinctively jerking backwards. I leaped back so fast that I fell, snapping twigs and rustling the grass.

The eyes were still there.

"_Run!_" screamed Crystalpaw, and I didn't hesitate. We stumbled away from the ghostly grove, bewildered and scared, the phantom voice still singing behind us. Bursting out of the shrubs and undergrowth, I saw the streambed before me and slid down the pebbles into its dry basin. My heart hadn't quite recovered. I felt bile in my throat and my paws felt like stone.

After a few moments of tense silence, I meowed, "What _was_ that?"

"I don't know," the white apprentice said breathlessly.

"Was it…like…a StarClan…spirit?"

"I don't know."

Silence for a few more moments. "We should get back," I suggested.

"Yeah. Get back." Crystalpaw got up and shook the dust from her pelt. "You're right. Let's go." I got to my paws and joined her in the middle of the streambed.

"I see you've met Rainpaw."

Crystalpaw cried out again and we spun around. There, perched on the stream's shore, stood Flickerpaw. His silver eyes glinted and his whiskers trembled amusedly.

"Met _who_?" I shot back.

"Rainpaw. The singer."

_Rainpaw_. My memory clicked, and I remembered Flickerpaw's long story of his imprisonment and binding to the Fire. "Wait—_Rainpaw_? You mean your Rainpaw?"

"Of course."

Crystalpaw gaped at him. "She's a bit…frightening, isn't she?"

"Frightening? No…startling, maybe, unnatural, yes, but never frightening." Flickerpaw's mouth curled slightly in a soft, wistful smile. "Not to me, anyway. I've known her in this way for a long, long time."

"Her singing," stated Crystalpaw. "How does she do it?"

"I don't quite know," he meowed back. "She would watch the birds, listen to the water, lose herself in thunderstorms. Then she started composing: her dark songs, her tributes to night and stars and battle and the moon. She kept it secret. She hated for anyone to hear her if she didn't want them to.

"Rainpaw was a very complex she-cat. She was quiet, very personal, but she had a lot of ambition. She liked power and wanted to be deputy, and leader after. I think she would've gotten there, too, if she hadn't stayed with me."

Flickerpaw raised his head and looked up at the thin moon and pale, cold stars. As little gusts of wind flowed among the forest, I could hear the healthy rustling of the leaves here and the rattling boughs in the mortal, frostbitten woods.

"She didn't thirst for power," he continued, rather unexpectedly (I thought he'd just leave us hanging and feeling a little odd and confused, as usual), "but she wanted it. She always wanted to be in charge, but never really had the influence or motivation to do so."

Crystalpaw queried, "Why was that?"

Flickerpaw looked away from the stars. "Because of me."

"What?"

"Because of me, Crystalpaw. I changed her perspective on things. At the time, I never really wanted anything more than surviving apprenticeship and not making a fool out of myself. I balanced her. I was her opposite. If you look closely enough, you'll realize that all of life is made up of a balance between darks and lights. A flame can light up the darkness, but without the darkness we would never see the stars. There'd be no heroes without villains. Without death there's no renewal. No victory without sacrifice, no stories without real pain, real suffering to base them upon.

"I'm going back to the cavern now," the brown-and-flame tom said. He tore his gaze from the diamond sky and watched me and Crystalpaw. "You can stay if you want to. She'll be nervous of you, I think, but she'll be fine and you'll be fine."

Then he was gone, as swiftly and silently as he'd appeared.

Crystalpaw and I looked at each other.

"That was interesting," I offered. Tiny little flecks of nervousness shuffled around inside me when she didn't respond, but just tilted her head in my direction, her eyes unfocused.

"I want to go back there," she mewed slowly.

I chose not to argue. I'd hoped that she wouldn't want to go back to the shadowy grove haunted by the spirit of Rainpaw, who would probably still scare me to death even with her singing. I nodded once, then wordlessly accompanied her back.

Rainpaw was there, terrible and beautiful as lightning, her half-formed image flitting through the air. I wasn't scared this time, but still wary. _Those who are dead should stay dead_, I thought. I remembered the cryptic dream I'd had of my mother's mother Silverpool, just before I was apprenticed. It felt like someone else's memory now.

_The dead will always be with us, for good or for bad._

"Hey, look at that, Eaglepaw," Crystalpaw murmured, touching her tail-tip to my flank and pointing to the forest before us. I peered at the tree trunks and ferns and flowers, unsure of what she had seen. _Rainpaw better not have a dead sister_.

And there it was—a tiny, pure sparkle of gold that blinked once in the dark and was gone. I blinked, staring at the spot where it had appeared. From the corner of my eye I saw another one, and instantly focused on it, but it vanished again. There were dozens of them, little winks of light not muted by the shadows.

"What—?"

"They're fireflies," Crystalpaw explained quietly. "Little flying bugs that can light up like that, only for a heartbeat. I've only ever seen them in greenleaf. I guess they've formed their own separate life cycle in this place."

I watched their little pulses of luminance unblinkingly, fascinated by this new phenomenon. "Why aren't they afraid of here, d'you think? All the golden trees and the shining…"

The white apprentice was transfixed by the unearthly magnificence of the moment—a ghost filling the woods with her songs of the dark, and fireflies blinking in the shadows. Her pale fur in the dim light looked as silver as Flickerpaw's eyes. The whole setup would've been laughable if it weren't so real. "They're not afraid," she answered, "because they can shine, too."

"_Wind song, wind song,_

_bear us away on your weightless wings._

_Wind song, wind song,_

_tell us a tale of the darkest things._

_Sing to us of fire_

_that tears down the sky;_

_Sing to us of lightning_

_that makes the rain fly._

_Wind song, wind song_

_tell us a tale of the darkest things._"

* * *

**A/N: The next chapter is **_**Chapter 10: Those Who Weren't Afraid**_


	12. Chapter 10: Those Who Weren't Afraid

**A/N: Ugh, so sorry again for taking so long with this chapter. Starting high school sucked up all of my time and energy, but now I've gotten into a routine rhythm and can start consistently updating TFWU until the end. This chapter is the last plot-development chapter there will be and the next one will be nothing but action. I have the rest of the story cleanly mapped out and I hope everyone likes it. :)**

**-x-Riverstar-x-: **Ah…I was wondering when someone was going to ask about that. Yes, it is partially about Flickerpaw and Rainpaw, but by the end of this chapter I think you'll see what it also refers to. And yes, I wrote the song by myself—I'm big on poetry. Thank you so much!

**StarClan's Nightmare: **Yes, I was hoping to generate some sympathy for Crescent there. I came up with the idea for Rainpaw while reading _Outcast_, I think it was, and wondered why no StarClan spirits of old or anything ever came down to check out the forest and the lake. All we get to see is Spottedleaf fawning over Firestar! I'll have the next chapter done very soon, I promise. It's already halfway done and very fun to write.

**WolfSummoner93:** Thank you! I spent a long time perfecting the wind song.

**Allan Pike:** Crystalpaw is firmly set against ThunderClan because she hates their ideals and wants more in life than just being kind, sweet, and heroic. I don't think just _anything_ can make her change her views. Thanks for reviewing!

**Painted Inkblot:** Of all the stupid kittypets they've adopted…Millie is the one I hate the most. I just _had_ to throw that in; glad you liked it. XP The whole setup with Rainpaw, the song, and the fireflies was one of the first things I made up for this story and was actually one of the central ideas I built it around. I wanted to create something that really juxtaposed light and darkness, comfort and peril. I hope I succeeded! I've taken the time to put in all these little things, like Rainpaw, her songs, Crescent, Windy, etc. because they all really do have a place in the grand scheme of things. You'll see in the next chapter how it all comes together. Thank you again!

* * *

**THE FIRE WITHIN US**

**Chapter 10: Those Who Weren't Afraid**

Crescent returned at daybreak with Windy gliding after her. "The idiot went and planted himself in a tree and wouldn't come back here," she told me and Moonpaw, glaring up through the cavern tunnel to where the crow peered down. He chattered innocently, and the she-cat snapped something back that made him flinch and flap away indignantly.

Billowing waves of cloud had advanced over the night, and by now had arranged themselves all over the frosty blue sky. They were thick and gray and puffy, and we spent almost all day hunting to stock up for the coming storm. Moonpaw and Crystalpaw wove thick brambles together to make a kind of screen to place over the cavern opening, which, Moonpaw claimed, would keep most of the snow out. Sunpaw and I organized the loads of prey and counted them out for rationing.

A light snow started to fall around sunhigh (it was hard to tell what time it was with the thick cloud cover), and we all retreated into the cavern. Flickerpaw pulled the cover over the opening.

"Won't the snow melt here?" asked Moonpaw breathlessly.

Flickerpaw snorted. "Not yet," he replied dully. "This blizzard's got enough wind to knock a tree down. It's going to be colder up there now. For a while, anyway."

Windy was the biggest problem. It had taken the combined efforts of Crescent, Icepath, and Sunpaw to drag the frantic bird down into the cavern and keep him there until Flickerpaw had secured the bramble screen. He wriggled away at the last moment and swooped upward to push against the new barrier, but Crescent leaped at him and tackled him to the ground, holding down his wings and screeching to him in the crow language. She held Windy there for a while as the rest of us milled around aimlessly. She constantly spoke to him in a complex series of growls and rough mews that mimicked his caws. He gradually began to adjust, but he only hopped around near the blocked opening and wouldn't go anywhere near Flickerpaw or the Fire.

"It's all too unnatural for him. Birds _know_ this stuff," Moonpaw said to us once.

"Most creatures do," Flickerpaw meowed quietly.

The blizzard went on for nearly three days, by Flickerpaw's reckoning. His acute and impossibly accurate knowledge of whatever was going on around him was something none of us questioned. During this time, Icepath taught us more fighting techniques, and Crescent joined in a few times, always encouraging fiercer attacks and swifter action.

"Aim for the head," she advised. "It's easier to kill someone when they're so disoriented they can't tell you from a tree stump." Windy cackled from the other end of the cavern, where he watched us battle each other. The black bird scuffled around in little piles of snow that fell into the cavern through the screen, which would always melt after a few moments.

To everybody's utter astonishment, Flickerpaw stepped into our training one day and offered a few tips. He showed us how to use small size as an advantage against larger warriors. I'd never seen him fight or even hunt before, so when he floored Icepath after what felt like heartbeats I could only stand there in shock. He sped around the white warrior and leaped through the air so fast that I couldn't tell what he was doing—or even where he _was_, for that matter. As Icepath, unscathed but clearly stunned, looked up, he ducked his head, mumbled something, and padded off to hide behind the Fire's basin. I heard his claws attacking the branch he had. Icepath looked around at all of us worriedly, then she resolutely meowed, "Flickerpaw, come back. It's okay. I'm fine."

He hissed back in a low, dangerous tone, "No. It's not okay."

"What's not?"

His brown-and-flame pelt flashed into sight, and then he stood bristling before us. "This," he spat. He swept his tail to indicate the cavern and the Fire. Anger burned silver in his eyes. "Me. The Fire. Everything. I didn't ask for this life and I didn't want it. I've _never_ wanted it. The warriors I was with back when it happened chose me because I had no family left alive and because I was closest to the Fire. It took them all night to slowly move me to this basin, and then they poked my tail-tip into the flames and I awoke as a new creature, an abomination, an abnormality. When I fight my battles I want to win because of my _own_ strength, my _own_ skill—not because of magical power I can draw from the Fire—the Fire, this…_parasite_ that I can never kill until I die."

Above us, the wind whistled softly like one of Rainpaw's songs. I glanced at Icepath and her expression was heartbreaking, as mournful as if she were watching the whole world dying. I remembered what she'd said to me before, about how she wanted the story of our journey to be a happy one. About how she worried too much about things. Fear for her felt stone-heavy inside me.

Later that night, I lay in my nest while Moonpaw and Sunpaw squabbled good-naturedly across the cavern. Opposite them were Crescent and Icepath, who talked softly and watched the dozing Windy. Flickerpaw's claws scratched on the stick behind the Fire. Crystalpaw paced aimlessly before me, pausing to inspect a swirl of color in the stone floor, investigating a crack in the wall, sweeping her tongue over her snow-white pelt. She caught me watching her and I stared at her sheepishly. She grinned.

"Crystalpaw?" I asked tentatively.

"Yeah?" She came a few steps closer. Her eyes were peridot and gold in the Firelight.

I inhaled deeply. "Do you ever think we shouldn't've come?"

"Here? To Flickerpaw's cavern and the Shining Forest?"

I noted her casual use of Crescent's term, but didn't mention it. "Yeah."

"Why would you say that?"

"I don't know," I replied. "It's just…I sometimes wonder if Flickerpaw would've been happier without us all barging in, getting his mind going, making him remember the past and feel all guilty about himself again."

Her expression was thoughtful as she padded over to our nests and curled up in her own arrangement of golden-dusted moss. "No," she answered quietly. "I don't regret it at all." I eyed her quizzically, and she continued, "Well, if I'd never've come, I wouldn't've met you."

I didn't quite know what to say to that. I felt like I was glowing.

When the winds finally stopped on the afternoon of the third day, Flickerpaw leaped up first and knocked the bramble screen down. In an explosion of frantic screeches and flying feathers, Windy soared up and out of the cavern, cawing in joy as he wheeled about in the open air. Snow caked the grass in a thin, damp layer; it felt like the first day of newleaf rather than the first day of leaf-bare. Me, Crystalpaw, and my littermates wandered the golden woods after our long incarceration in the unearthly cavern, relishing the warmth and racing each other through the luscious grass. The entire forest was dripping with melted snow. Traveling to the border of Flickerpaw's realm, we saw the freezing, mortal forest beyond coated in a layer of thick snow that would've reached my chin if I stood in it.

"So…" Sunpaw meowed casually. "Who's up for hunting?"

The other three of us laughed, protested loudly, and hauled him away back into the heart of the Fire-infused forest.

"I love this," Moonpaw said suddenly as we aimlessly padded around the woods.

"Yeah?" I prompted.

"Living without duties. Without rules. Without leaders or mentors, or the warrior code, or patrols, or facing off with ShadowClan cats or trying to contend with the ever-present bossiness of ThunderClan…"

"Yeah," Crystalpaw put in enthusiastically.

Sunpaw snarled. "You shouldn't've put that last one in," he warned Moonpaw, who laughed with Crystalpaw, both she-cats shaking their heads in playful exasperation. "Oh—wait, I'm sorry," the golden tom continued, feigning offense, "are you two like best pals now? Did I interrupt your regularly-scheduled giggling agenda?"

We spent the rest of the day in the forest, daring each other to venture out into the snowy, ice-cold woods that hadn't been touched by the Fire. Crystalpaw went the farthest, tumbling head over heels into a snow bank and shivering for a long, long time afterward. Around sunset we found Windy scrounging for food and chased him until evening, when we saw the fireflies again. We passed our days like this until I looked up one night to find the full moon in the sky. There was going to be a Gathering tonight, and the four Clans would convene at the Island. The leaders would bicker and be hostile towards one another, the warriors would greet friends and glare at rivals, and the apprentices would gossip and be carefree.

And then the topic of the missing cats would come up, and they'd figure out what had happened—if they hadn't already. We'd undoubtedly left a scent trail somewhere around the Moonpool and up the stream, but with the heavy snows, it would be hard to find us.

Though I loved being here and growing closer than I'd ever imagined to my siblings, Icepath, a rogue, a bird, and Crystalpaw, I felt regretful as I thought of Tigerflame and Gorsethorn. How had our disappearances affected them? We were gone and no one could find us. They were just as lost as any other of the warriors of RiverClan and ThunderClan. But they weren't supposed to be—Tigerflame had gone to the mountains in a time of great plague and death and had brought back the herbs that cured the disease. She was the greatest current hero of the Clans' world. What would happen when those who weren't supposed to be afraid _were_?

* * *

Icepath and Crescent continued our training for several days afterward. We didn't do much hunting practice, since all four of us apprentices were already pretty good, and no one wanted to go into the cold forest anyway. We practiced fighting moves so many times that my paws ached every nightfall. I was getting the hang of it, though. I wondered how Shadowflicker would've taught me, and felt sorry for abandoning him and ruining his chance to be a mentor.

Fighting was difficult to learn and even harder to use in actual combat. I was clumsy and unsure most of the time (we all were) and I was reminded fiercely of my early-apprenticeship self-doubt. I'd gained confidence in myself and my skills, but I was nowhere near warrior status. Icepath assured us that in time we'd all get better and be fighting to rival the fabled warriors of TigerClan and LionClan.

"Yeah right," Sunpaw had said.

_I hope so,_ was what I'd thought.

We went in shifts to hunt in the snowy forest each day. I usually went with Crystalpaw, Moonpaw, and Crescent, who followed her daughter despite the ThunderClan she-cat's obvious snubbing. Once in a while Crescent would strike up a conversation, commenting on Windy or the snow or sometimes Firestar, to which Crystalpaw would contribute stiffly. Though she seemed determined to keep a wall of ice between herself and her estranged mother, I thought that Crystalpaw's anger was shallow and she was warming up to the sharp-tongued rogue.

Crescent called us together one evening for a late hunt. "So we won't have to do it early in the morning," she explained.

It was hard to concentrate and harder still to stand the blasted cold. I was shivering in no time, completely unused to the chill, and wondered why anything would be as stupid as to be outside right now. I caught a glimpse of Crystalpaw moving through the frozen undergrowth. Her white fur was barely discernable beside the snow. I found my eyes following her, noticing how silently she could ghost through the woods. I liked watching her.

But then I saw something else moving.

A slight, darting creature sprang through the trees, pointed ears and bushy tail instantly recognizable. _Fox!_

"Crystalpaw!" I shouted. I charged forward up the hill, mirroring the fox's path. "Look out!"

Crystalpaw stood amongst the roots of a towering sycamore, spitting out feathers—she'd just killed a bird. She stiffened, shocked still, then dived out of the fox's path. The reddish-brown predator snapped and barked at her wildly.

Coming from behind, I jumped as hard as I could and tackled the fox, bowling it over and landing heavily on the ground, making a defined depression in the snow. Further enraged, it wriggled away from me and leaped up again, still insanely snapping its jaws and screeching. I heard Crystalpaw's threatening hiss and scrambled to my paws. She stood between it and her freshly-killed bird. I understood. _It's hungry and desperate_.

"What—?" Moonpaw appeared through the shrubs and gaped at the snarling fox. She stood beside me speechlessly. I could scent rabbit on her, and apparently the fox could too. Its expression became greedier and it advanced rather than retreated at her arrival.

A heartbeat later, it dove for Moonpaw. I yowled in alarm as it fastened its teeth into her shoulder. The silver she-cat slashed at it fiercely and scratched its ear enough to allow a few beads of blood to leak through its flesh and fur. Crystalpaw attacked it from behind and I chipped in a few swings from my side. The fox writhed and managed to get above Crystalpaw, rolling with her in the snow and snapping, biting, attacking her from every angle with his teeth.

Moonpaw suddenly veered away from the battle, lunging for the dead bird lying by the tree trunk. There was a crunch as the little bones in its body snapped and Moonpaw tossed a mouthful of it at the fox, which saw this and instantly abandoned his grapple with Crystalpaw to snatch up the feathery wad and dart off into the whiteness and shadows.

The ThunderClan she-cat staggered up, wincing. There was red on her leg. I rushed over in horror as blood welled out of a series of long scratches on her front leg.

"It's not bad," she hissed through gritted teeth. "They're shallow. They're shallow."

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Yeah." I looked up from her scratches at the same time as she looked down at me, and our eyes met rather unexpectedly. I stared into her face for several heartbeats before the awkwardness took over and I glanced away in Moonpaw's direction. She was looking straight at us, and I thought I saw a grin tugging at her mouth.

"What?" I meowed to her.

"Nothing." She picked up the rest of the bird and carried it over to us. Crystalpaw peered at it closely.

"You just ripped the _wing_ off," she realized. "Very sneaky."

Moonpaw gave her a thankful grin and shrugged. "We should go find Crescent," she advised. "Maybe Flickerpaw has something for your scratches."

"They're fine," Crystalpaw mumbled stubbornly. "They're not even bleeding anymore." To emphasize her point, she stepped forward without wincing. She padded off comfortably and unfalteringly. I followed second, and Moonpaw went behind me with the bird. Crystalpaw looked over her shoulder and cast me a knowing glance as she watched me nearly trip over my own paws. Snorting through a face-full of snow, I stumbled after her and her laughter, feeling a swelling sensation inside me, like sun after rainstorms or dawn after darkness.

* * *

I was dreaming.

A few of my faceless, nameless dream-friends were there with me by a frosted canyon surrounded by a leaf-barren forest. I looked up and the moon hung there in the daytime sky, but was it the moon or was it Silverpool's radiant face? There were stars up there, too. But I didn't notice them.

The dream was broken, wavering, wandering. Crystalpaw grinned at me from somewhere. Flickerpaw blinked solemnly by the canyon's edge, beckoning to me. I went to him and then I was falling down, down, down, down in slow motion, but was that tumbling white shape somewhere above me Crystalpaw…?

Silverpool erupted into my vision. _White fire and death_, she warned. _Keep your eyes open_.

It all faded to black, and I wasn't falling anymore. A heartbeat or a long time later, I was awake in the Fire's cavern. The dancing gold flickered across my eyelids. Looking around, I saw Crescent curled loosely amongst her nest, sleeping, and Windy sat awake beside her. The crow tittered nervously and ruffled his wing feathers. Moonpaw and Sunpaw were asleep behind me, but I noticed that Icepath and Crystalpaw weren't there. The low murmur of voices caught my attention, and I rolled over to see the two she-cats sitting before the Fire's basin.

I got to my paws and crossed the cavern over to them. The Firelight flickered on the crystalline stone of the floor and walls. The cavern was suffused with softly colored, ever-changing light patterns that wove into the shadows like spirits into the night.

"Hey," Crystalpaw murmured as I sat down on her left side. Icepath sat at her right, head bowed.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly.

Crystalpaw sighed. "It's—"

"I know the meaning of the prophecy." Icepath cut across Crystalpaw sharply, raising her head and looking right at me. "I know it, Eaglepaw."

"No you don't," growled Crystalpaw angrily. "You're not the medicine cat. You could be wrong."

Icepath hissed. "I know it," she argued, and I noticed that there was a tremble to her voice, something dark and frightened.

"No you—"

"What d'you think it means, then?" I asked. Crystalpaw shot me an irritated look, and I returned it with a faint smile. She looked a little bemused at this, and blinked several times, not taking her eyes off me.

The warrior took a deep breath. "It's about me," she stated, and her hardness and resolution fell away. She sucked in air again, continuing, "When I was an apprentice like you two, my brother was my best friend. Darkstorm. When we were about ten moons old, and it was time for us to become warriors, we'd always make up names for ourselves, guess what we'd become. Just like every other apprentice since the beginning of the four Clans. You know what I wanted to be?" She sighed brokenly. "_Icefire_."

"Icefire?"

"Yeah. I thought it was the most beautiful name in the world."

"So…you think that's part of Silverpool's prophecy?"

"Of course it is!" she meowed. "Don't you see?" You said that she said '_The Moonpool shall be renewed in the glory of white fire and death'_. That's me—_white fire_. My fur is white and I wanted to be named _fire_. And…" Icepath turned and stared into the soundless flames. "I'm supposed to take Flickerpaw's place. That's the death. My death, my transformation."

I was speechless. "No," I said. "No way. Icepath…"

"No," she snarled, her teeth clenched. "If this is what saves Flickerpaw—and gets _all_ of you out of here—I'll do it."

I was itching to step between Icepath and the Fire, but she was a little less than twice my size and would probably trample me. Not to mention that she was an older warrior with ten times my skill.

"Icepath," said Crystalpaw angrily. "Listen. You're not giving up anything, especially not your whole _life_, for us. We can get out of here another way."

"No we can't!" Icepath protested. "It's a stalemate, Crystalpaw, an impasse. If we leave now, Flickerpaw's left to waste away and the Clans will be lost without the Moonpool. The only way to solve both those problems is for someone else to take the Fire. Then Flickerpaw will die and be with Rainpaw, and the dam can be destroyed."

"It's _not_ the only way!" snarled Crystalpaw. "Flickerpaw's mortal in mind. He can be reasoned with."

"All he's ever wanted is to be with Rainpaw," Icepath insisted. "I can give him that."

"No, we have to—"

"Don't you see it?" she spat. "Eaglepaw was given this prophecy by Silverpool. I'm the only one here who knew her when she was alive. I'm the warrior here, I'm the one responsible for you all, I'm the one who has to make the sacrifice." She inhaled deeply, her whiskers trembling. "In all the great stories, the thing that separated the heroes from everyone else was the fact that they _did_ something—something daring, something brave, something that helped others at great personal sacrifice. They didn't fear death." Her blue eyes glowed with Firelight. "And those who weren't afraid are the ones who are remembered."

Crystalpaw and I didn't have anything to counter this. We watched her numbly as a trembling sort of triumph spread across her face, and then in one swift movement she plunged toward the Fire's basin.

"_No!_" Crystalpaw shrieked, and then everything happened at once.

There was an explosion of sound and Windy cawed inanely, launching himself into the air and out of the cavern. Crescent shouted something as she jumped up from her nest, sending moss flying everywhere, and I heard Moonpaw and Sunpaw do the same. Crystalpaw and I were knocked backwards by some enormous force, a great blur of gold and silver, and my head hit the stone floor and hot darkness covered my eyes. My head throbbed in horrible pain and I could only writhe there, stunned, feeling someone else nudging me and hearing yowls that coursed through my ears and sent sparks of stabbing pain into my head. After a few whirling moments I was able to open my eyes, disoriented, and saw a gray face looking down at me worriedly.

"Silverpool?"

"Get up, mouse-brain!" Moonpaw yelled, flicking her tail across my flank. "I'm Moonpaw and I'm your sister, nice to meet you. Need another whack on the head?"

I staggered up hastily, vertigo clouding my senses and making the cavern spin. I blinked rapidly, shut my eyes, then opened them again. I tried to take a step forward but tripped and fell over Crystalpaw, who snarled and nudged me to my feet.

"Watch it," she growled at me, but not unkindly. Her tail-tip traced a circle on my flank.

"Where's Icepath?" I demanded.

"She's here."

I turned around in surprise, for it was Flickerpaw who had spoken. Icepath was slumped in her nest, not moving, and the brown-flame tom stood sentinel beside her. "What just happened?" I asked desperately.

"I intervened before she could touch the flames," Flickerpaw replied softly. "I was outside by the stream when she dived. I can move swiftly when I need to."

"So, she's…she's all right?"

"In shock," Flickerpaw meowed, "but all right."

"What was she bloody thinking?" Crescent asked gruffly. Windy cawed and flapped around the cavern opening, and the rogue she-cat growled something to him in his language. "What did you two say to her?"

"Nothing," Crystalpaw snapped. "We tried to get her _away_ from the Fire."

"Brilliant job," Crescent retorted.

"Please don't argue," I muttered to Crystalpaw. I was thinking of Crescent's sadness on the day we'd first found her alone in the cold forest with Windy. The white apprentice made a kind of noncommittal growl.

Flickerpaw raised his head very suddenly. He looked around, eyes flashing, then without another word he sped across the cavern and disappeared through the opening. Windy 

screeched in panic and dived out of his way. The crow jabbered on senselessly, hopping up and down and flapping in the air, then spiraled up and out of the cavern into the bright sunhigh.

"What was that?" Sunpaw asked.

"Who knows?" Moonpaw answered. She padded over to Icepath's nest in concern. I followed her, looking down upon the white warrior. To my surprise, she blinked one blue-tinted eye, unfocused and utterly sad.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and to me she didn't seem like a warrior. She was just another cat, our equal, not our superior, humbled before the Fire and the weight of failure.

"Don't be," Moonpaw soothed. "No one expects anything stunning. Leave that to those crazy heroes you always hear about."

Icepath's mouth twitched in a brief, tiny smile. With a sigh, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, squinting against the daylight and Firelight. She looked around at the five of us, not quite meeting our eyes. "I don't know what to say," she meowed softly.

"Forget about it," Crescent advised. Icepath turned to her friend, slightly astonished, and the rogue she-cat grinned. "It was brave and it was bloody stupid, just like most other things we do in life. I've done stuff like that. These four have, 'specially Sunpaw, I'm guessing, due to his mountainous reputation and ego the size of the moon. Even Windy has." The black crow cackled and flapped around Crescent's head.

"Excuse me," Sunpaw meowed, feigning pompous irritation. "My ego is at _least_ twice the size of the moon."

We all laughed, but I leaned to Crystalpaw and muttered to her, "What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea," she said back. We laughed together.

I liked the sound of her laugh. There was nothing special about it—she looked a little ridiculous, actually, sucking in breath between laughs—but something about it was nice to see. I didn't look away from her until she looked at me again, and I felt embarrassed.

I remembered the night in this cavern before the blizzard. _Well, if I'd never've come, I wouldn't've met you,_ she'd said to me. I felt warm.

The atmosphere was amiable for a few moments, but then something else happened.

There was a rush of sound and Flickerpaw dove back into the cavern. His paws skidded against the stone floor and he brought a menacing tension with him. I exchanged confused glances with Sunpaw and Crystalpaw.

"What's up?" Sunpaw queried.

Flickerpaw stood stock-still in the center of his cavern. It was slightly unnerving to see that he wasn't panting after running at such a high speed. He paused a moment, then spoke.

"I could hear them a moment ago. They're getting closer."

Silence.

Then Moonpaw said, "What?"

Flickerpaw's gaze panned across us each in turn. He looked worried and almost frightening. "I thought I heard voices from afar when I was here a moment ago. So I left to check." He spoke swiftly, agitatedly. "I ran to the border of my forest and I could sense them coming. Their voices were in my ears. But they're not too close yet—not even within sight of this place. They're coming fast. They'll be here by sunset, I think."

"Who?" demanded Crescent.

"There are at least half a dozen of them," he responded. "At _least_. There may be more, I'm not certain. Cats. Warriors." He inclined his head and stared straight at Crystalpaw. "Warriors from ThunderClan. They're coming for her."

* * *

**A/N: The next chapter is Chapter 11: Sunrise and Sunset. It's coming VERY soon!**


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